Niall Blaney (Donegal North East, IND-FF)

I recognise that the problem associated with accident and emergency services is nationwide but, like Deputy O'Connor, I will be very parochial in my response to it. I will outline the position on the accident and emergency department and bed capacity at Letterkenny General Hospital. It is important to state that these two issues are related but require different solutions. The very small accident and emergency department is expected to deal with approximately 30,000 attendees per year. There are only six bays which is inadequate to deal with that number of attendees. A proposal was submitted to the Department of Health and Children in mid-October 2004 for the provision of a much enlarged emergency department with an associated medical assessment unit.

Of the 30,000 who attend the hospital per year approximately 8,000 are general practitioner referrals. Over 90% of these patients are referred for admission to inpatient beds. It is necessary to assess them in a single area which is large enough to hold them during the initial assessment period of four to five hours, with all the appropriate diagnostic facilities to hand, such as x-ray equipment, laboratory services and other items. Then, most of these 8,000, and some of the remaining 22,000 patients must be admitted to inpatient beds. This is the capacity problem in Letterkenny General Hospital.

Given the huge number of patients the hospital assesses or admits to inpatient beds it frequently has to cancel elective inpatient and day case surgery. The hospital is reaching the point of dysfunctionality and medical admissions, such as the 8,000 referred patients, disrupt two other service areas through no fault of their own. The hospital has cancelled many admissions in recent months, and approximately two weeks ago over 100 day case admissions and more than 20 serious inpatient cases, scheduled for elective surgery, were cancelled in one week. This causes grave anxiety and disruption for people trying to access the hospital for elective procedures.

Two nights ago a family friend was rushed into Letterkenny General Hospital with a brain haemorrhage. Shortly afterwards he was put into an ambulance to be rushed to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. The ambulance was about to leave when word came that there were no vacant beds in Dublin and he would have to wait until one became available. Thankfully, the patient was brought to Beaumont Hospital yesterday.

This is a nationwide problem and needs urgent attention. The Tánaiste has no significant political interest in Donegal as her party has no representation there but she should deal urgently with the problems at Letterkenny General Hospital. The hospital has submitted a proposal to the Department of Health and Children for an additional two floors to be built over the new emergency department. These would enable the hospital to provide an extra 70 beds which would significantly address the capacity issue which in turn causes the problems I have already described.

I trust I have given a sense of the twin issues to be addressed, namely, the need for an enlarged emergency department in which to assess the 30,000 patients who attend Letterkenny General Hospital, and for enough beds to accommodate those patients who need admission to inpatient care. I look forward to seeing these issues addressed.

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