by Louise Doyle
SEVEN months after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly vowed reform and a greater recruitment focus in Letterkenny University Hospital, the HSE has given the green light to hire more staff following a hiring freeze.
This week the HSE gave the go-ahead to start hiring more than 2,200 staff following a recruitment freeze.
Minister Donnelly announced funding has been made available for an additional 2,969 staff for this year.
The breakdown of that figure is 2,268 for health and 701 through the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
“This will enable the HSE to set out its recruitment targets in each area for 2024, “Minister Donnelly said.
“It will inform decisions at local level on the filling of available posts, including recruitment of new staff, relocation of staff within the health service and appointments of those returning to work following career breaks.
Minister Donnelly was in Letterkenny in November of last year to turn to sod on the new €52 million 110-bed Letterkenny Community Hospital on the Kilmacrennan Road.
His visit to the county came in the wake of issues around the letting go of two locum consultants in Letterkenny University Hospital within months of one another after concerns emerged about the standard of their work.
Minister Donnelly’s visit also came after 78 GPs, backed by consultants, wrote to him calling for urgent action at the hospital’s emergency department amid their fears of a ‘service collapse’.
In a one-to-one interview with this newspaper, Minister Donnelly admitted there had been a ‘deficit of investment in Letterkenny hospital’
“We want to work with management to get the message out there that Letterkenny is hiring, that Letterkenny is growing. There has been a deficit of investment in Letterkenny hospital. I’m very aware of that.
“We need to continue to invest in the hospital but that is not enough, we have to continue the investment in community care and in community beds as well.”
But just how this move will benefit LUH is yet to be known.
We contacted the Department of Health to ask if and how the move will enable the HSE to set out its recruitment targets in LUH this year.
A response had not issued before going to press.
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