Doctors write to health minister over 'deeply damaging' decision on northwest surgical hub

Plans to build surgical hubs nationally were first announced in December 2022, with an 18-month turnaround time predicted. However, so far only one of the six has opened. Picture: PA

A group of 170 doctors in Donegal have written to the health minister, saying not awarding a new surgical hub to the county is “flawed, unjustified, and deeply damaging” for patients.

Plans to build surgical hubs nationally were first announced in December 2022, with an 18-month turnaround time predicted. However, so far only one of the six has opened, with funding allocated for hubs in Cork, Waterford, and Limerick.

A location for the northwest hub has not yet been named, but it has recently emerged this is likely set for Sligo and not Donegal.

Now, GPs and hospital doctors have called on health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to meet with them and hear the arguments against that decision.

Dr Padraig McGuinness said the decision ignores the reality of local geography.

“Donegal has a larger population than the combined areas of Sligo, Leitrim, South Donegal, and Cavan,” he said.

Many of our patients would face round trips of five hours or more to access elective surgical care in Sligo. That’s unacceptable and dangerous.

He added: "This isn’t just about a building or a budget line. It’s about whether Donegal patients are treated as equals in our health system. Right now, they’re not.” 

Pressures on Letterkenny hospital are a key reason why they need the hub, argued Dr Louise Moran, consultant in intensive care and anaesthetics.

"Patients in Donegal already face some of the worst cancer survival rates in the country due to late presentation and access issues,” she warned.

“To bypass Letterkenny again is not only medically indefensible, it’s a direct hit on patient safety and regional equality.” 

Letterkenny is often among the most overcrowded hospitals in the country as recorded by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The hubs are seen as a central part of plans to tackle overcrowding.

Each is expected to deliver 10,000 day case surgeries and minor procedures, and 18,500 outpatient consultations every year.

Plans by the HSE to instead offer Letterkenny an ambulatory care centre for outpatients are seen by this group of doctors as “an inadequate substitute lacking ring-fenced funding, staffing plans, or timelines.” 

Consultant general surgeon Michael Sugrue said: “We need real surgical infrastructure, not vague promises”.

He warned of the long-term impact for recruitment at Letterkenny University Hospital.

Without adequate surgical resources, we simply cannot attract or retain the consultants we need.

"This decision risks the future of general surgery in Donegal and the long-term viability of LUH as a Model 3 hospital,” he said.

They called for an evidence-based review of the HSE’s plans to locate the hub in Sligo.

In April HSE regional executive officer Tony Canavan said a proposal to build a surgical hub linked to Sligo hospital has been submitted.

"We’ve identified a site for it that will be considered by the HSE senior leadership team in mid-May and then to the board of the HSE at the end of May,” he told RTÉ News.