GPs in Donegal have been given assurances that lines of communication with Letterkenny University Hospital will be improved and kept open.
“That’s always a challenge but it’s certainly an area that we needed to do more work on, and we will be doing more work on,” Saolta CEO, Tony Canavan, told the Donegal News.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly met with doctors and consultants in Donegal last month after they had raised concerns around patient safety due to apparent shortcomings at LUH. As head of Saolta, the group responsible for services provided by LUH, Mr. Canavan stressed that efforts to improve were being made prior to Minister Donnelly’s intervention.
“We had met with the GPs from County Donegal before the minister’s visit. We met with them during his visit, and again subsequent to that.
“We agreed on a number of actions with them and we’ve started to follow through on those. Actions like the opening of the MAU (Medical Assessment Unit) in the hospital. We’ve agreed on how we’re going to work on that together.
“We’ve targeted early in the new year to get the MAU back up and running again. I think that will be an important development,” he said.
Patients in Donegal, who could potentially benefit from facilities at Sligo and Galway hospitals, are often impeded from doing so by the travel distances involved.
“The GPs were very keen that we would look at patient transport issues to see if there was some way that we could work together, and possibly with other supports around Donegal, to help patients from Donegal to avail of services in Sligo and Galway, when they need to,” said Mr. Canavan.
Claims from some, that Letterkenny University Hospital has at times been on the verge of complete failure, have not gone down well with the Saolta boss.
“We do need to be careful about the language we use with respect to our hospitals. For example, I wouldn’t agree at all with any suggestion that LUH is at risk of collapse.”
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