Pringle welcomes news that angiography will remain at LUH, but asks for how long

By Thomas Pringle
Updated: 2nd June 2022

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, has welcomed the news that angiography services will be provided at Letterkenny University Hospital, but questioned whether the ongoing national review of cardiac services will keep them there.

Deputy Pringle attended a meeting this morning with the Saolta University Health Care Group, Oireachtas members and members of the HSE Regional Health Forum, where the service was discussed. A mobile unit providing the service at LUH was scheduled to withdraw at the end of the month, so capacity assessments for the service were undertaken at the hospital.

The deputy said: “‘Basically they are saying that the Intervention Suite in LUH had to be assessed to make sure it could meet the level of service required and that they are happy now that it can including staffing arrangements. Therefore, all that was provided by the mobile unit will now be provided by the hospital.”

However, he said, the ongoing National Review of Specialist Cardiac Services will decide later this year on the level of cardiac services required in all hospitals.

Deputy Pringle said: “They will wait and see what the review is going to say, and take it from there. This is ‘good news’ in inverted commas.”

The national review had been expected in February, but now is expected in September at the earliest, he said.

Deputy Pringle said: “We cannot be confident that the level of cardiac services provided at LUH will continue for the long-term until we see what this review brings and how it is implemented. Now is not the time for complacency, because we have seen LUH and Donegal left behind before.”