Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the afternoon of 14 October management at Letterkenny General Hospital issued a statement to the general public in which it asked people to avoid the hospital's emergency department owing to what it described as high activity levels. It also advised those seeking medical attention to visit their GPs instead of presenting at the emergency department.

In addition - reminding us just how understaffed and under-resourced that hospital is - the statement went on to explain that all those who were due for a planned admission as an inpatient at the hospital were being asked to phone the hospital beforehand so that staff could confirm the availability of a bed in advance of their arrival. If ever one needed further evidence that Letterkenny General Hospital is struggling to cope with the demands placed on it, this latest crisis should provide all the necessary proof.

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and I have repeatedly raised the issue at the heart of the hospital's crisis. It is not surprising when one takes into account that management was forced to release a statement regarding the provisions afforded to the hospital compared with other major hospitals in the State.

Every year the hospital has on average 21,000 inpatient discharges, that is, patients who pass through its doors seeking treatment. To put that in context, LGH is the seventh largest hospital in the State, yet, despite this, it has still not been given regional hospital status nor has the facility been given the additional resources it desperately needs to appropriately serve the people of the north west. Based on the inpatient discharge numbers, LGH not only has the lowest budget allocation in comparison to other hospitals with a similar case mix, it also has the lowest allocation of medical staff. As a consequence, the hospital is forced every year - sometimes a number of times a year due to the failure to provide it with the necessary staff - to appoint an unnecessarily high volume of agency staff to deal with demand, something which is extremely costly for an institution with an overstretched budget. When HSE officials appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts, there was a discussion on the five vacant consultant posts in LGH. The hospital pays €110,000 through the HSE for those posts on a locum basis every 13 weeks. The cost of recruiting a full-time consultant would be approximately €110,000, yet the hospital is forced to pay €444,000 for the same post. We understand that five of these positions are filled in this way and not just one. In addition, agency staff fill other positions in the hospital.

It is clear from the national employment monitoring unit, which publishes health statistics, that the hospital is being disadvantaged in the context of the number of medical dental staff, nursing staff and agency staff per 1,000 inpatient discharges and in the allocation of funding. Given the resources available, how can the Minister ensure that next week, next month and next year patients who need to access the accident and emergency department are not asked to tune into Highland Radio, Radio na Gaeltachta or Ocean FM to be told by management not to attend and to visit their general practitioner and to be told that if they have a scheduled appointment, for which they may have had to wait for a long time, they may not have a bed for them? This is not suitable for patients in Donegal. This is the most important element of public infrastructure in the county and we are proud of it. It is close to our hearts, given it is where many of us have spent our first hours and will spend our final hours. We want to ensure the hospital is resourced in order that it can meet the needs of our communities.

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