A busy winter expected at Letterkenny University Hospital

A busy winter is expected at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) with the onset of the seasonal flu and in anticipation of a rise in Covid numbers, however initiatives have already been undertaken to help ease patient flow across the hospital, a senior health official has said.

Speaking at the Regional Health Forum West meeting, Councillor Gerry Crawford welcomed an initiative to recruit additional staff to LUH and asked what progress has been made, to date.

Four additional Emergency Medicine Consultants for LUH have been sanctioned for recruitment by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly. Recruitment of staff to support and target weekend discharge from LUH and the recruitment of staff to maximise usage of community support services is underway. An advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) is also being sought.  

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The Chief Executive Officer for the Saolta University Health Care Group, Tony Canavan said that while it is expected they will be under ‘particular pressure’ this winter at LUH ‘that pressure has been sustained throughout all of this year and will be there next year as well.’

In relation to the nursing posts, he said, he hoped to see them in place by the end of this year or early in the new year ‘so they would be available this winter.’

“I think we will be in a different position in relation to the four consultant posts that you refer to. It just takes longer to recruit consultants. We have had increased competition in Letterkenny for a consultant in consultant and emergency medicine and we have appointed from that competition,” he said.

He said that efforts will continue to fill the positions as soon as possible and the appointments will be welcome. 

“We do need them consultants on a permanent basis and just to be clear the purpose of appointing those consultants is to provide an extended number of hours that consultants are available within the emergency department throughout the course of the week,” he said.

He said that a consultant's decision making will allow for patients to be discharged or for patients to have further care.   

Mr Canavan said that there is a bed capacity issue across the group and that additional beds are needed for patients that need care and attention in each of the Saolta Group hospitals.

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“But there is also capacity of course outside of the hospital that needs to be met  … so that patients can either be cared for closer to home or indeed that they can be discharged more efficiently from hospital when their care in hospital has been completed,” he said.