The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly is to meet with Donegal GP and hospital consultant representatives to discuss their ongoing concerns over patient services in the emergency department at Letterkenny University Hospital.
The Minister has also accepted an invitation from his cabinet colleague Minister Charlie McConalogue to visit Letterkenny University Hospital.
Minister McConalogue said he met with Minister Donnelly on Monday morning and planned to meet with senior hospital management later in the afternoon.
The meetings come after eleven consultants at Letterkenny University Hospital wrote to the Minister for Health highlighting various concerns over hospital services.
Agriculture and the Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue.
Last week a letter signed by 78 Donegal GPs was sent to the minister highlighting “huge patients safety concerns”.
Minister McConalogue said the situation at Letterkenny University Hospital needs immediate attention.
“It’s very serious when you see so many GPs across the county and the consultants at the hospital over the weekend sending a letter to the Minister for Health outlining their concerns with regard to the level of service and the accessibility of our emergency department,” he said.
“That’s something that we all have to take very seriously.”
Confirming that Minister Donnelly has agreed to meet with GP and consultant representatives, Minister McConalgue added: “It’s important now as a government that we respond to those concerns and react in a way that addresses them.”
Meanwhile Betty Holmes of Donegal Action for Cancer Care said her organisation has also written to the Health Minister to seek a meeting when he visits Letterkenny.
“We said over 15 years ago that key health services were being stripped from Letterkenny Hospital and that it would become the new community hospital,” Ms Holmes said.
“We have seen nothing over all those years that would convince us that there is real commitment at local, regional and national level to Letterkenny Hospital or the sick people of Donegal.”
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