MINISTERS for Health are allergic to Donegal – that was the assertion made by a Donegal councillor at the monthly meeting of Donegal Co. Council.
Cllr. Tómas Seán Devine was speaking during a debate on how councillors have not been able to get a meeting with the management of Letterkenny University Hospital to discuss a range of issues.
He pointed out that the population of Donegal has grown considerably but the hospital is in crisis.
He expressed his dissatisfaction about being informed that a previous meeting that had been arranged was cancelled.
He felt that there was a “duty of care” issue and that as councillors they were representing people yet could not get to meet with management at the hospital.
Under the current protocol, councillors have been informed that they cannot request a meeting with hospital management, and can only raise matters through the Regional Health Forum. (A number of councillors are on this forum).
Cllr. Devine described this as “madness” and said that councillors should be allowed to “challenge the conditions” in the hospital in terms of waiting times, staff issues, lack of services, shortages of staff etc.
Cllr. Devine added: “The problem that I have is that we had meetings arranged, but two days before, it was cancelled and the following week we were told we can’t request further meetings.”
He also declared: “I do truly believe the Minister (for Health) is allergic to Donegal, it was the same with the one before and before.”
Seconding his motion that the current protocol be scrapped, Cllr. Joy Beard said that for councillors to expect to channel concerns through the Regional Health Forum is “not good enough” .
Meanwhile, Cllr. Gerry McMonagle expressed surprise at the matter and said he would seek clarification at a Regional Health Forum meeting while Cllr. Brogan felt they needed to have a balance regarding the hospital and pointed out that there is “a lot of good work happening”.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)