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Letterkenny Hospital
"systematically underfunded"
03.09.12
SINN Féin has called
for all Donegal's politicians to unite to "confront
the systematic underfunding" of Letterkenny General
Hospital.
Deputies Pádraig MacLochlainn and Pearse Doherty
said local public representatives must defend the
vital services provide at the hospital for the
people of the county.
It has been confirmed in recent days that the
hospital faces over €3.5 million euro in Government
cuts between now and the end of 2012. This is some
€900,000 a month. |
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Letterkenny Hospital. |
Deputy MacLochlainn
said: “We can reveal that the management and staff
at Letterkenny General Hospital have endured a
scandalous and systematic underfunding for many
years now.
"We have obtained access to data that shows that per
1000 inpatients, Letterkenny General Hospital
receives the lowest budgetary allocation of any
hospital in the State and the lowest
allocation of hospital staff in the state.
"Dublin hospitals have been receiving between two
and three times the budgetary allocation that
Letterkenny General Hospital receives per 1000
inpatients."
The local hospital caters for 21,000 inpatients -
the seventh highest in the state - but it has been
denied designation as a regional hospital.
"This costs the hospital up to €2m per annum and
puts services under threat as hospitals with higher
status are prioritised," he added.
Sinn Féin says Sligo is designated as a regional
hospital despite having had 5,000 fewer inpatients
in 2011 and despite of a ranking of 17th.
Meanwhile, Deputy Doherty has written to all
Oireachtas members in the county inviting them to
seek a collective and urgent meeting with Health
Minister, James Reilly.
“Despite this scandal, Letterkenny General Hospital
management and staff have somehow managed to
repeatedly make LGH one of the most efficiently run
hospitals in the State according to the HSE’s own
statistics, the party said. |
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