Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thirty patients were waiting on trolleys in Letterkenny University Hospital yesterday. There were 2,000 instances of patients waiting on trolleys in Letterkenny University Hospital over the course of 2016, and that figure increased to 5,000 last year. When the Taoiseach visited County Donegal two weeks ago, he decided not to visit the hospital to meet management and to assess the pressure being experienced by staff.

Last year, the hospital put to the Taoiseach a proposal, costing €1.8 million, to provide additional staff to reopen a 19-bed ward that would alleviate some of the pressure on the hospital. It has put that proposal to the Taoiseach again this year. Will he take the steps necessary to ensure the funding is delivered to alleviate some of the pressure on the hospital so the patients of Donegal, in particular, and other counties will not be facing a crisis in which they will be on trolleys and in which staff will be asked to deal with unacceptable working conditions that are simply atrocious?

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