Minister asked to intervene after ambulances queue at Letterkenny hospital

A call has been made for the health minister to intervene in the situation at Letterkenny University Hospital after ambulances queued outside the hospital on Tuesday night.

At least seven ambulances that were unable to admit patients were seen queuing outside the hospital with the backlog understood to last for several hours.

The hospital has been dealing with severe overcrowding in recent days as well as an outbreak of Covid-19 that has resulted in the closure of wards and the restriction of visiting.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said there were 37 admitted patients waiting for beds at the hospital on Wednesday morning.

Visiting restrictions remain in place at Letterkenny University Hospital

Hospital has seen a significant rise in Cocid-19 admissions

Health Service Executive (HSE)  figures show 84 Covid-19 patients were being treated at the hospital on Tuesday night with 14 new confirmed cases in the previous  24 hours.

Local councillor Gerry McMonagle, who is chair of the HSE’s Regional Health Forum West, called on Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to intervene and get extra resources to the hospital immediately.

“Unfortunately, this is now beginning to become the norm. It is the consequences of rising covid numbers, shortage of beds and staff to deal with large numbers now presenting themselves to A&E,” he said.

 “The HSE must sit down with our GPs and see if there is a much greater role that they could play in limiting the numbers attending the A&E department. We must also invest more in our community services to ensure that there are more beds available in the community sector with more home help hours for those patients who can be discharged if support was at their home. I would like to commend the efforts of the staff at the hospital who deal with this crisis on a daily basis.”

The HSE has not responded to a request for comment.