Niall Blaney (Donegal North East, IND-FF)

It is with great dismay that I speak again about the dire circumstances being faced in accident and emergency units. I am well aware this is a national problem but let me focus on the problems facing the accident and emergency unit in Letterkenny General Hospital. The professional staff at the hospital are trying to deal with very sick members of the public in what only can be described as very cramped facilities. The accident and emergency unit in the hospital is too small, equipment is inadequate and old, there are far too few beds to cater for those who need to be admitted to the hospital, and the staff and public are tired of the situation.

While I very much welcome the sanctioning of a new accident and emergency unit for Letterkenny General Hospital by the Tánaiste with work due to start next year, this unit will not become available for use until 2008. I dread to think of the number of people who will have to be cared for in the existing unit in the meantime. I believe that discussions are ongoing about providing additional beds for a new accident and emergency unit. I urge the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children to ensure that this takes place. If the beds are provided, it will be a major factor in providing the answer to Letterkenny General Hospital's current overcrowding problem. If that were to be the case, it would solve the problem of an inadequate accident and emergency unit while also providing additional beds which are so badly required.

Clearance has been given for an additional 30 beds in a special prefabricated development which is expected to come into operation before the end of the year. This development is indeed welcome but a prefabricated development is not a long-term solution.

The day services unit is being used to house people on trolleys daily, with 14 people on trolleys in Letterkenny General Hospital last night. This results in inpatient and day case procedures being cancelled daily owing to the unavailability of inpatient beds and the fact that the day service unit is being used as an accident and emergency overflow. With the economy booming, it is not acceptable that people are expected to tolerate the conditions at Letterkenny General Hospital.

Last year the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children announced the possible sharing of radiotherapy cancer services with Northern Ireland. While I welcome the Tánaiste's efforts to find a solution to this debacle, services will have to be provided in the north west, not in Belfast. However, I welcome the agreement in principle between the breast care teams in Letterkenny General Hospital and Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry on a model for co-operation and the provision of services for breast cancer patients in County Donegal. I urge the Minister to see this through, while ensuring it is not based on bed capacity and that it complements the service on offer in both hospitals in the best interest of patients in counties Donegal and Derry. An effective arrangement between the two hospitals, which would ensure the retention of the current services in Letterkenny General Hospital, is very much needed.

I refer to other problems people face in the north west. No neurologist has been appointed to the region for some time, despite a recommendation in 2003 by Comhairle na nOspidéal that two consultant neurologists should be appointed to the north west. Three years have passed and all we have been offered to date is a teleneurophysiology pilot project with Beaumont Hospital. While I welcome progress, it is not staggeringly positive. EEG recordings were due to commence earlier this month and I urge the Minister to roll out the pilot project and appoint at least one consultant neurologist to the north west. Patients suffer from many conditions ranging from multiple sclerosis to brain tumours and so on and they cannot face the trauma of travelling to Dublin or Galway to visit a neurologist on a regular basis.

BreastCheck is expected to be rolled out in the north west next year. This service once again has been rolled out in many other parts of the State ahead of the north west. While we have had to wait longer than most for the roll-out of the service, the development is welcome and I ask the Minister and her officials to correspond with the Donegal Action for Cancer Care group regarding the implementation of this service in the region.

Given Donegal's peripheral location, I fully support the concept of cross-Border services. It could be the way forward. I urge the Minister to take stock of all the issues I raised and to reflect upon the health services the people of Donegal must put up with. The county is often marketed under the slogan, "Up here it is different", and Donegal is certainly different when it comes to health care. I invite the Minister to visit Letterkenny General Hospital, despite the controversy surrounding it recently, because a visit would boost the overworked staff.

See this speech in context