Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to page 58 of the Programme for a Partnership Government and the commitment to build capacity in our hospitals, I raise again the issue of Letterkenny University Hospital. I have raised this several times before, including last week, and I raise it again because people are still on trolleys. People are still waiting for access to a bed in a hospital and people are still waiting for a response from the Government as to whether bed capacity will be increased at the hospital. I have outlined to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, on several occasions that a request was made for an additional 20 beds to be opened in an empty ward in the hospital. The Government has simply ignored this request. When I raised it with the Taoiseach last week, he listed a number of other hospitals across the country where the number of beds had been increased and he made some throwaway remark about Letterkenny and the need to change practices. Was that a throwaway remark or was a specific request made of Letterkenny to change work practices in order to get additional beds because that has not been communicated to people there? They have simply been ignored and the people of Donegal are being ignored.

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