Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher has raised the issue of the proposed Winter Plan for Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) with the Minister for Health Simon Harris.
But the Donegal Deputy says the reply he received from the Minister is both shocking and disappointing in content.
Deputy Gallagher said the intended Winter Strategy for the hospital in the months ahead will fail completely to meet the demands of the general public.
He said “The much-hailed Winter Plan 2020 is a box-ticking exercise and only more spin over substance from a Government out of touch and indifferent to the plight of the people of Donegal.
“The HSE and Government have completely failed to recognise the massive pressures that Letterkenny Hospital services and the A&E Department are under on a daily basis right throughout the year.
“The failure to provide for additional bed capacity and to provide additional frontline staff is testimony that the Government and Ministers are out of touch, LUH has exercised its full capacity protocol on more occasions over the past 15 months than any time previously.”
Deputy Gallagher said it is shocking how the demands and ongoing bed capacity crises at Letterkenny hospital has been totally ignored by the HSE and Government when drafting this year’s winter plan.
He added “In the Minister’s reply to my question concerning the strategy for Letterkenny University Hospital he stated the principle initiatives of the Winter Plan are as follows for LUH ;
• added Medical Registrar for improved medical cover;
• rapid flu testing to reduce turnaround time to 2 hours;
• additional cleaning services to improve bed turnaround time out-of-hours;
• a reablement programme to decrease presentations and admissions;
• additional aids and appliances to facilitate timely discharge; and
• hospital avoidance measures to reduce the number of patients admitted for assessment.
“Until bed capacity and staffing issues are resolved at Letterkenny, then the ongoing overcrowding, delayed admittances, patients in corridors and cancelled procedures will continue, the reality is LUH requires additional resources and staffing.”
Deputy Gallagher said he previously stated that the entire hospital urgently needs a full review of services, staffing numbers and management and until that is carried out by an independent outside team and a comprehensive report is compiled we will not be able to address the crises situation which clearly exists at the hospital.
He said “The Winter Plan just published by the Minister for Health Simon Harris is a master class in box-ticking and hood-winking – it’s a plan in word only for it lacks any strategy to deal with the crises.
“I am impressing upon the Minister to take preventive action, before the full extent of the winter crises sets in, the additional beds previously promised are urgently needed for LUH, the employment embargo must end, too many posts are tied up with the strict criteria of the recruitment embargo, meantime staff at LUH are working in the most difficult environment due to understaffing at Letterkenny University Hospital.
“This is the 4th winter in a row that this Government have failed to provide a meaningful strategy to deal with hospital capacity, but this plan is by far the weakest of all concluded.”
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