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Pringle: Public left to suffer from government inaction on health services
- Updated: 23rd October 2024
Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said the public health service is at breaking point, as he renewed his calls for a greater focus on recruitment and retention at Letterkenny University Hospital, additional ambulances and crews for Donegal, and other measures.
Addressing the Dáil today, Deputy Pringle said: “Our public health service is at breaking point and our hospitals are experiencing record-breaking overcrowding.
“Understaffing in the health service is severely impacting the ability of staff to provide safe care and it is putting both patients and staff at risk. Staff are expected to work under severe pressure constantly and it’s not sustainable or acceptable.
“Something’s got to give and unfortunately, it is the public who are left to suffer this government’s inaction.
“I have been raising the fact that Letterkenny University Hospital needs urgent reform and far greater focus on recruitment for years now. Just two months ago, Letterkenny University Hospital was forced to cancel patient surgeries due to overcrowding, as over 1,000 patients attended the Emergency Department in one week,” he said, noting that last year saw over 4,000 hospital cancellations at LUH.
The deputy was speaking in support of the Labour Motion re Public Health Service Staffing.
The deputy said: “It is clear that understaffing is a significant issue in Letterkenny and the staffing levels across the public health service need to be addressed immediately. But, as I often say, recruitment is only part of the solution. We need to be focusing on retention as well.
“I have seen so many young medical professionals from Donegal leave in search of a better life and a much better health system to work in and that is to be expected given the immense stress and pressure they are forced to work under in the HSE.
“It is vitally important that we are doing everything we can to retain all health workers, including migrant doctors, nurses and consultants, who play a vital role in our hospitals and who keep our healthcare system from collapsing,” he said.
The deputy said: “Severe staff deficits also exist in the National Ambulance Service, and this needs to be addressed urgently.”
He said: “For years I have been calling for at least three additional ambulances and crews in Donegal to meet the demand we have. We need one in Letterkenny, another in Inishowen and one in Killybegs.
“As it currently stands, a call out to Glencolmcille can barely meet the call-out requirements when the crew is based in Killybegs. But as well as this, the Killybegs crew are often also expected to cover Donegal town. It is a dangerous and unsustainable situation.
“We need to be investing in adequately staffing our ambulance service, our public health service and our community hospitals. I strongly believe we should be investing in better community healthcare as it is often underfunded, understaffed and underutilised,” he said, saying this would significantly benefit communities and take the pressure off regional and national hospitals.
Deputy Pringle said: “Whoever is in the new government might actually deal with this situation once and for all, rather than continuing on from crisis to crisis and lurching from disaster to disaster, as we have.”
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