Updated: 6pm
An urgent call has been made for extra resources for Letterkenny University Hospital following another night of severe overcrowding.
Seven ambulances were seen queuing at the Emergency Department door at one point on Tuesday night.
Patients were forced to wait outside for hours as short-staffing issues and high patient numbers affected services within the building.
Footage from outside the hospital shows the extent of the crisis:
Letterkenny University Hospital is also seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 positive admissions and attendances. There are 84 patients with COVID-19 being treated in the hospital today. As of Monday, there are 11 wards affected by COVID-19 outbreaks.
Cllr Gerry McMonagle, Chair of the Regional Health Form West said the overcrowding is ‘unfortunately now beginning to become the norm’.
Cllr McMonagle told Donegal Daily: “It is the consequences of rising Covid numbers, shortage of beds and staff to deal with large numbers now presenting themselves to A&E.”
He said more should be done in community healthcare settings to alleviate the pressure on acute hospitals.
“The HSE must sit down with our GPs and see if there is a much greater role that they could play in limiting the numbers attending the A&E department,” Cllr McMonagle said.
“We must also invest more in our community services to ensure that there are more beds available in the community sector with more Home Help hour for those patients who can be discharged if support was at their home.
“I would like to commend the efforts of the staff at the hospital who deal with this crisis on a daily basis. The Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly must intervene and get extra resources to LUH immediately.”
Saolta, in response to a query from Donegal Daily, said that range of factors including the impact of winter, the ongoing number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 and the high numbers attending Emergency Departments who need to be admitted for ongoing care, is leading to a very high demand on hospital services throughout the country.
Current contingency measures in place include the use of all available beds and an additional 23 escalation beds.
A spokesperson said: “These are beds that are not in full time use (while staff recruitment to open these beds is underway) which have been opened on a temporary basis by bringing in additional agency staff and by existing staff working additional hours.
“Every effort is being made to discharge patients who are ready to go home so that beds will become available for patients who need to be admitted, at the earliest opportunity.
“The hospital is postponing a number of elective procedures due to a lack of bed capacity and patients are being contacted directly if their procedure is being postponed.”
The hospital acknowledges that these delays are very difficult for patients and their families and apologises for the inconvenience and distress these delays cause.