SIGNIFICANT disruption is being experienced within the supervisory structure at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH), it has been claimed.
According to correspondence sent to this newspaper, the issues span several sub-departments within the Facilities Directorate, “resulting in major operational repercussions”.
“This has caused major delays for inpatients receiving scans, attending hospital appointments, and being moved between wards, distribution of food and cleanliness of the hospital,” the correspondence states.
“Supervisors across the affected departments had been performing duties far beyond their job descriptions for an extended period to maintain operational standards.”
According to the letter, LUH management were formally notified by supervisors that unless pay restructuring or role regrading was addressed, they would revert to working strictly within their job descriptions from March.
“These concerns were not acted upon by LUH management, and supervisors have now withdrawn all duties that fell outside their contractual obligations,” the correspondence adds.
Supervisors have raised concerns that staff they supervise “are currently earning higher salaries than the supervisors themselves and some at clerical grade which they query, was this done through due process”.
The letter further states: “Staff representatives highlight this as yet another example of LUH management overlooking internal staffing issues and taking frontline supervisory staff for granted.”
The Donegal News asked the HSE for a response to the claims. It had not been received at the time of going to press yesterday.