Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question and I thank all of the staff who help to keep our health services working on a 24-7 basis. They deliver a public service under very challenging circumstances.

The Minister for Health received a letter and I have read the letter. He is very concerned with the issues raised in the correspondence and will meet with representatives of the GPs next week and will discuss the issues they have raised in their letter.

The budget for the hospital has increased from €142 million in 2019 to €177 million, which is a 24.5% increase. This is significant in itself. There are 2,144 whole-time equivalents employed by Letterkenny University Hospital, which is more than a 20% increase since 2020. There has been a lot of capital investment in the hospital. Capital projects completed in past two years include the expansion of gynaecology services, the opening of the acute stroke unit, the provision of an additional endoscopy theatre and a new maternity theatre. An additional 49 acute beds have been delivered since 2019 to the hospital and further capital projects are under way that will add capacity and services for patients. These include expansion of the renal department, expansion of the oncology day unit and the electrical infrastructure upgrade.

There is a lot of pressure on the emergency department. I believe there were 43,000 attendances in 2022, which is a 13% increase on 2019. In 2023, there were 40,000 attendances between January and September, which is a 25% increase in overall numbers over 2019. Most importantly, the attendance figures for patients aged 75 or older is more than 6,200, which is a 1,100% increase compared to 2019. We are witnessing a post-Covid increase in attendance across the health system. It is evident in Letterkenny and it is evident across most European healthcare systems. It also reflects the growing and ageing population.

We have expanded community care and other measures with a view to providing people the care they need outside of the emergency department and improving patient flow and discharge from the hospital with more home support packages and nursing home supports. Increased funding has been provided for additional GP access to diagnostics and primary care allowing for patients to be referred directly for X-rays and scans. In community healthcare organisation, CHO 1, which includes Letterkenny University Hospital, 14,500 of these scans had been completed by early October this year.

The Minister will meet with the staff. I note that the letter relates to access to the emergency department but we need to look not just specifically at the emergency department but the entire continuum from primary care to community care to diagnostics and the wider hospital group. That is a management issue locally and regionally under the Saolta University Health Care Group in how hospitals are organised, how patients are triaged and how patients are referred to various services.

See this speech in context