Long wait times have been reported at the Emergency Department at Letterkenny University Hospital following another surge in patients seeking treatment.
The hospital dealt with 159 patients on Monday and is seeing similarly high numbers today.
“Many of these patients are very sick, frail and elderly and need to be admitted to the hospital for treatment,” a spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately some patients are waiting a long time to be admitted to a bed. As of this morning, there were 17 patients on trolleys awaiting admission to in-patient beds.”
“We apologise to patients and their families for the distress these delays are causing. We acknowledge that long delays are very difficult and we are doing everything we can to optimise the flow of patients through the hospital.”
Saolta said that 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.
In addition to these pressures, LUH is managing five outbreaks of respiratory illnesses (flu and COVID-19). Visiting is limited in wards affected by outbreaks and visitors to all other areas of the hospital should be mindful of public health advice.
Sean Murphy, LUH Hospital Manager is appealing to the public to consider all care options before attending the ED. “As always, we are committed to treating everyone who presents at our ED but we do so strictly in order of medical priority. Emergency Departments are for people with a serious injury or life-threatening emergency and those with less urgent needs will be waiting a long time to be seen. We continue to request that people consider other options for non-emergency care such as Out of Hours GP and pharmacies before attending an ED.”
The statement added: “Keeping up to date with your vaccines is the most important thing you can do to avoid serious illness from flu and COVID-19. Find out more here“
