Hospital overcrowding a ‘New Year nightmare’

RECORD overcrowding at Letterkenny General Hospital created a “New Year nightmare” for patients and staff, it was claimed yesterday.

Fine Gael TD Dinny McGinley said there were 35 patients on trolleys on Tuesday night as the accident and emergency crisis at the hospital escalated to an all-time high.

“Senior staff at Letterkenny are describing the situation at the hospital as horrendous,” he said.

Yesterday, all non-emergency surgical procedures were cancelled.

Mr McGinley said the hospital had the highest number of operations cancelled last year with the exception of the five major hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

He warned that plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to have more elective procedures carried out in the regions would only exacerbate the crisis at Letterkenny General.

The sanctioning of the long-promised 70 extra beds must be made a top priority, he insisted, and the development of a new A&E unit should proceed immediately.

Industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), Noel Treanor, said the hospital that served a population of 147,000 desperately needed the additional 70 beds that were promised two years ago - it was the only solution to the crisis.

“It is not my job as a trade unionist to sing the praises of management but the hospital is one of the most efficiently run hospitals in the country. And I would be the first to complain if that was not the case,” said Mr Treanor.

The HSE said current pressures were mainly due to a seasonal upsurge in activity that frequently occurs after the Christmas and New Year period.

At lunchtime yesterday there were 26 patients awaiting admission to the hospital, according to the HSE, who pointed out that the number at the same time on Tuesday was 15, so it was obvious that the numbers were not static.

The HSE said plans for a new A&E unit were underway with the design team expected to be appointed within the coming months.

It was anticipated that the new unit would be open by the end of next year.

In the meantime, the health authority intended commissioning a new oncology/haematology ward that would provide 11 new beds in the coming months.

And it added that, as a short-term measure, modular buildings would be constructed at the emergency department to provide more space.