Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste has outlined some of the positive stuff that happened in Letterkenny over the past couple of years and that is true but in reality all of that happened because the hospital flooded. That is why it happened and that is why this work was carried out. The hospital is greatly increasing the numbers at all times and even with all the work that has been done, we are in this crisis situation.

The letter from GPs states : "We have patients who are refusing to attend the emergency department because they would rather ‘take their chances’ and stay at home." From first-hand experience I know this is actually happening, whereby patients are deciding to stay at home rather than going to get the treatment they need. This is because of the delays and so on. The emergency department is being used as a gatekeeper for the rest of the hospital. This is part of the problem in what has happened.

Letterkenny University Hospital is consistently the fourth or fifth busiest hospital in the State with more than 23,000 patients a year being discharged from the hospital. Since 2020, the number of patients being seen in under six hours by the emergency department has declined from 80% to 52%. While the standard is 80%, only 52% are seen within the time. Patient numbers waiting for more than nine hours have increased from 6% to 27% in the same period. There is a problem. I am glad the Minister is meeting with the GPs. I hope an action plan will come out of that and we will actually see the problem being resolved.

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