Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. With regard to the recruitment embargo, there is definitely a debate to be had about funding of the health service, but the recruitment embargo had nothing to do with this issue. In fact, the HSE was funded to a record level last year for an additional 6,000 staff but hired in excess of 8,000 staff. I do not want the recruitment embargo to be in place but this particular issue is not a funding issue, though other matters which we have discussed previously are related to funding.

I asked my Department to contact Letterkenny University Hospital to understand exactly from the hospital's perspective what it is that it is looking at. At the moment there is an outreach service for neurology into Sligo. The service is operated by three neurology consultants. There is a wider team of clinical and social care staff. The diagnostic work-ups and treatment are delivered from Sligo at the moment but, as the Deputy stated, there is a demand locally in Donegal for neurology services to be provided not in Sligo, but in Letterkenny.

To that end, there is an ongoing review of neurology services in the north west that is scheduled for completion in the coming months, in quarter 3 of 2024. I have asked my Department and the HSE to be very cognisant of what people in Donegal are saying and what the neurology teams in Letterkenny University Hospital are saying. We need to let that review run its course and see what recommendations come from it. If there are recommendations to increase the neurology capabilities in Letterkenny as well as in Sligo, we will look at them very seriously.

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