Ambulance delays signalled hospital breakdown
STARK warnings about the emergency department crisis at Donegal’s largest hospital have sparked death fears.
A patient in need of lifesaving emergency medical care could die, it has been claimed amid the chronic problems at the accident and emergency (A&E) unit of Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH).
After 14 ambulances queued for hours outside LUH’s emergency department (ED) in recent days due to delays, the Health Service Executive (HSE) then appealed for the public to stay away, and the Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO) warned that it had the second highest waiting list of any hospital A&E in Ireland.
The HSE told the Donegal News that ambulances were delayed due to hospital turnaround times.
The emergency bay at LUH on a recent Monday evening with up to 14 ambulance awaiting to admit patients from all over Donegal. At 9pm there was up to 14 HSE ambulance parked outside with doors opened as medics awaited admission of their patients.
These delays could endanger the life of a patient who suffers a medical scare like a heart-attack in an area of the county like Bundoran, if they have to wait over an hour for an ambulance that is delayed 75kms away at LUH, argued Donegal County Cllrs Noel Jordan and Gerry McMonagle.
Cllr Jordan in Mountcharles told the Donegal News: “I am not surprised by your story about the ambulances. The HSE can’t just say there are too many people in the A&E. They have to address it.
“Paramedics have told me of their concerns. While they are waiting for patients to be admitted, they are still getting emergency call-outs – but they cannot respond and that could mean a loss of life.”
He added: “I have spoken about this problem so many times and it is not just about turnaround times.
“There are huge questions to be asked by the INMO. Why does this keep happening? They need to free up beds. It can’t just be about turnaround times.
“Even when patients are admitted from an ambulance, they then have to wait ages on a trolley for a bed. There is chronic understaffing.”
Cllr McMonagle in Letterkenny told this newspaper: “This is a regular occurrence at LUH. Ambulances are queuing because beds are full and patients inside the ambulances must wait in the vehicles to be admitted.
“But what happens when an ambulance is needed elsewhere? We need an extension at the hospital’s emergency unit and more staff.
“This is the long-term plan of the hospital, but it is not going to happen any time soon. Meanwhile, there is a knock-on effect in the hospital that results in surgeries being cancelled.
“This incident [with the 14 ambulances] was not an isolated incident. The HSE needs to look at solutions.”
Ambulances also queued outside Letterkenny University Hospital in Februyary 2026. Photo Brian Mc Daid.
Letterkenny UH had the second highest tally of patients waiting for a bed to its A&E on Friday past, according to the INMO.
Senator Manus Boyle in Bruckless called for “urgent review of the [HSE] National Ambulance Service in Donegal” and told the Donegal News: “Ambulances need to be discharged quickly.
“They are there to save lives – and they are not able to do that if they are not on the road because they parked up at a hospital for several hours.”
A HSE spokesperson told the Donegal News that it is focused on measures to “improve hospital turnaround times” and that it is recruiting four extra Hospital Ambulance Liaison Supervisors (HALS) to resolve operational delays and that two of these HALS will be based at LUH.
The NAS deploys ambulances from 24 locations across the HSE West and North West region, including from eight separate locations in Donegal.
These are Ballyshannon, Buncrana, Carndonagh, Donegal, Dungloe, Killybegs, Letterkenny, and Stranorlar.
The NAS is the statutory pre-hospital emergency and intermediate care provider for the State.
It responds to 435,000 calls each year, employs over 2,400 staff across 118 locations, and has a fleet of in excess of 620 vehicles.
The 435,000 calls are handled by over 240 National Emergency Operations Centre staff each year from bases Ballyshannon in Donegal and Tallaght in Dublin.