The Government’s refusal to provide funding to reopen Letterkenny University Hospital’s Short Stay Ward is truly shocking, says Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.
He was speaking after again raising the need for the Government to provide the funding to reopen Letterkenny University Hospital’s 19-bed Short Stay Ward.
Senator Mac Lochlainn said that he was “truly shocked” to receive confirmation in the Seanad today that the Government have refused to provide the funding that management at Letterkenny University Hospital had applied for last year to enable them to reopen the Short Stay Ward.
He said “Last year, the numbers of our people on trolleys at Letterkenny University Hospital almost reached 5,000. That’s double the numbers from the previous year, 2016 and the highest numbers since INMO records began.
“It is important to state that behind these shocking numbers are real human beings, mostly elderly citizens in real distress. There is not a day goes by that I don’t hear the stories from people across Donegal whose loved ones have been through this appalling experience of long delays and inappropriate beds.
“In recent days, I have learned about a 92-year-old man who was gravely ill with pneumonia waiting 23 hours for admission to an appropriate bed in the appropriate ward. This is just shameful.”
He added that it is also important to understand that our nurses, doctors and support staff at the hospital have to work, day in, day out in these appallingly stressful conditions too. Doctors, nurses, support staff and patients are all being utterly failed by this Government.
“As this Government clearly don’t get the seriousness of the crisis that they have created after years of closing hospital beds, moratoriums on recruitment and cutbacks, I am now calling on Fianna Fáil to send a clear message to Fine Gael that the future of their confidence and supply agreement is conditional on releasing the funding to Letterkenny University Hospital in this case and in tackling this profound crisis across our health services”.