ALMOST two staff a day under the age of 50 resigned from Donegal HSE last year. The majority of resignations were tendered by Letterkenny University Hospital employees.
Freedom of Information figures released to the Donegal News show that 173 staff left the organisation in 2022.
A breakdown of the figures reveal 116 LUH employees vacated their jobs. Eighteen staff resigned from Local Health Office Donegal, while Community Hospitals had nine resignations. Seven staff resigned from Older Persons Services.
Disability Day Centres and Disability Residential Services each had five resignations. Four staff resigned from the National Ambulance Service, while four resignations were grouped under ‘other’. Childcare and Disability Services saw three resignations in 2022, while two staff resigned from their posts in Primary Care Services.
Family reasons, unsuitable hours, going abroad, other health board/agency and personal reasons were among the grounds for the resignations.
The disclosure of the figures comes amid continued high demand at LUH. The hospital was last week forced to postpone patient operations following one of its busiest weeks on record. Hospital management said resources were under “significant pressure” last week when 203 people attended the emergency department.
Elective and in-patient adult procedures have had to be rescheduled, while patients in need of non-urgent treatment care have been warned to expect “very long waiting times”.
Speaking to the Donegal News, Chairperson of Regional Health Forum West, Councillor Gerry McMonagle said he was alarmed by the excessive number of resignations, particularly those concerning LUH.
“This is an inordinate number of resignations, especially for those employees under 50 years of age. It is particularly glaring when you see the numbers who have resigned from LUH. To be honest I am very surprised they are that high. Even though we have been hearing anecdotally for some time now that nurses and doctors were leaving due to the pressures and working conditions at LUH, I did not think there were that many resignations.”
FALLOUT
He said the fallout from the resignations will be felt most by the remaining staff members and by those attending Accident and Emergency for treatment.
“Is it any wonder we have the waiting times that patients are currently experiencing at A&E in LUH? Record number of patients on trolleys and chairs, almost weekly press releases from the HSE advising people to only attend if it’s a real emergency? Telling patients to go to NowDoc, which is also under extreme pressure with staffing levels not near what is needed to provide a proper out of hours service.”
He warned that if the trend was not reversed the hospital will continue to haemorrhage staff.
“It is long past the time for Minister and Government intervention at LUH. If the Government don’t act to put further resources into LUH then I believe we will only continue to haemorrhage more staff due to the intolerable working conditions at the hospital. Staff and patients must be protected before it is too late to turn the exodus of staff from LUH.”
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