BY JEROME HUGHES
THE region’s top health official has expressed ‘hope’ that Letterkenny University Hospital will receive additional funding and staff in 2024.
After facing problems in 2023, including overcrowding in the Emergency Department leading to ambulance crews being unable to alight patients, and attracting scathing criticism from GPs and consultants on a range of issues, there is now some optimism for improvement in the coming year.
Saolta CEO, Tony Canavan, said: “I absolutely agree that additional funding is required at LUH to enable us to recruit, possibly additional specialist services, and to provide additional capacity to meet demand, both from an ED perspective but also from a waiting list point of view.”
Letterkenny and Sligo hospitals receive the same budget even though LUH looks after more patients. Therefore, it’s suggested Letterkenny should be receiving a greater share of the financial pie.
“This is the very strong argument that was being put forward by GPs when they recently met with the health minister, and indeed when they met with myself.
“Also, our own consultants in Letterkenny make this point when they look at the number of in-patient discharges from each of those hospitals or the number of attendances at the Emergency Departments,” admitted Mr. Canavan.
He concluded, “We need to look at the services that are required at LUH, seek funding for those services, and put them in place.”
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