Consultant geriatrician, Professor Ken Mulpeter, said  the lives of up to twelve people who die or are left severely disabled as a result of strokes in Donegal each year could be saved. Last year LUH had more than 170 stroke patients.

 

LUH currently is the only acute hospital in Ireland that doesn’t have an inpatient stroke unit. According to Professor Mulpeter plans for an eight-bed dedicated unit had been agreed prior to the hospital floods back in 2013.

 

“ASU’S are the basic standard of care in acute stroke and have been so  for the last 20 years. Are Donegal lives less valuable than the rest of the population?  I’ve been unsuccessful in persuading Saolta /HSE to fund staffing for the ASU. This is not a political demonstration and political parties have not been invited,” Professor Mulpeter said.

Last month, Professor Mulpeter went public in a bid to highlight the issue.

“I’ve been pushing the issue at a national and local level but I’ve been getting nowhere and I’m peeved to put in mildly. If you haven’t got a stroke unit there’s a marked increase on mortality and morbidity.

 

“It’s an accepted standard of care for twenty years or more now. It’s nothing new. Of every 16 patients you see you can prevent one death or someone getting severely disabled. In our case that works out to be ten to twelve people a year,” he said.

 

“Ethically I find it difficult that I’m not involved in the care of every stroke patient who presents at Letterkenny. They’re scattered all over the hospital. I’ve decided to go public on this because it’s going nowhere fast,” he added.

Professor Mulpeter has been working at LUH for the past 28 years and together with Dr Randall he runs the Rehabilitation Ward located within the St Conal’s campus.