Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for the opportunity to speak today. I fully support this motion and commend Sinn Féin on putting it forward. The motion calls on the Government to legislate for mandatory safe staffing levels in hospitals. The current waiting lists for Sligo and Letterkenny hospitals are completely unacceptable, and many of my constituents have reported long waiting times and understaffing in both hospitals. These hospitals are buckling under the strain following years of neglect and lack of investment into the north west. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association recently warned that the growing shortage of essential acute hospital beds and consultants across the west and north-west region is resulting in waiting lists for treatment that are impacting on patient outcomes. What a surprise. The Government’s inaction on this is an absolute disgrace. Unfortunately, that is not a surprise either.

I was disappointed to learn about the recent resignations of consultant endocrinologists for adult diabetes services in Letterkenny University Hospital. One of these resignations came from a new consultant endocrinologist who only began working in the hospital a few weeks ago. What does that say about what it is like to be a consultant in Letterkenny? There are obviously deeper underlying issues to be dealt with here, and I urge the Minister to seek these out and address them as soon as possible. Perhaps the Minister of State at the Department of Justice could do it rather than the Minister for Health, seeing as he is here. Another consultant who has recently resigned has worked at the hospital for many years, so his absence will create a significant hole in adult diabetes services provision. This is incredibly concerning and it raises questions about the level of care now available for adults with diabetes in Donegal. It also raises questions for the many people with appointments over the next few weeks, and how they will be facilitated.

We are now facing disruptions to the delivery of, and access to, care for people with diabetes in Donegal, and the negative consequences that will inevitably come as a result. The current waiting time for diabetes appointments in Letterkenny is at least two years, despite clinical guidelines that state that adults with diabetes should have an appointment every six months. I have been told that the Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland has informed the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, of its concerns on the provision of care in Letterkenny hospital, but he has never followed up on it. That is hardly surprising, because he does not respond to me either when I raise issues with him. Perhaps the Minister of State could take that up with him too, and see if we can get responses.

I have also been raising my concerns about diabetes services in the north west with the Minister for over a year. The lack of investment is completely unacceptable. Sligo University Hospital has been seeking funding to provide insulin pump services in the hospital for the last two years. However, due to a lack of funding, it is still unable to hire a specialist nurse to provide the service. This is yet another example of the north west being left behind. People with diabetes should not be at a disadvantage just because they live in the north west. Services here are scarce enough as it is, and we cannot afford to lose any more endocrinologists.

I urge the Minister of State to please engage with this issue to ensure a short-term and long-term solution for the people of Donegal. I also call on him to ensure further investment for diabetes services. It is not good enough to hire more endocrinologists and think that is the problem sorted. There is no point in hiring new endocrinologists for them to leave within a few weeks. The issues are obviously deeper than recruitment and they need to be sorted out.

We also need to address issues with our National Ambulance Service. There is a list of what we need to address, which has been outlined by other Member during this debate. The National Ambulance Service and primary care services all impact on hospital services because if patients cannot see a GP or get services outside the hospital, they end up going to the accident and emergency department in an attempt to be dealt with there. This all leads to the importance of the whole area needing to be dealt with.

Unfortunately, the Government is actually dealing with preparing the privatisation of the services. It is interesting that while Letterkenny University Hospital is losing consultants left, right and centre, more private hospitals are opening up in Letterkenny to facilitate CAT scans and everything else that is required there. What is the actual programme here? Is the programme privatisation by stealth? That certainly seems to be what is happening across the board.

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