Letterkenny patients’ lives under ‘immediate threat’, doctors warn

The lives of patients at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) are under “immediate threat” from emergency department delays and inadequate facilities, almost 30 consultants at the hospital have warned.

The hospital is facing “more insidious” risks that constitute “death by a thousand cuts”, the consultants say in a letter to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

While acknowledging the current recruitment embargo in the Health Service Executive, the consultants say they are concerned “this should not directly lead to avoidable deaths where services are already in crisis”.

Mr Donnelly is scheduled to visit Letterkenny on Friday, when separate meetings are planned with local GPs and hospital staff.

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LUH has been at the centre of controversy over recent months. The consultants’ letter is their second warning about conditions in the hospital. A previous letter last month was signed by 11 consultants; the letter sent this week has 27 signatories. Local GPs have also expressed concerns about safety at LUH.

In their latest letter, the consultants say they would be in dereliction of their duty to patients if they failed to articulate “the significant patient safety concerns” they have about many services in the hospital.

The letter, which has been copied to the Department of Health, senior HSE bosses and local politicians, calls for new hospital facilities, additional staff and a redistribution of existing funding between different hospitals to favour Letterkenny.

Letterkenny is “significantly disadvantaged” in funding compared to other Model 3 hospitals due to an “unreformed system of historical block grants”, the consultants claim. They estimate the hospital is short 20-25 consultant posts, a similar number of non-consultant hospital doctors and 100 beds.

The hospital’s shortfall in funding amounts to €45 million a year, or one-quarter of its annual budget, they also contend.

LUH, along with other Model 3 hospitals outside Dublin, struggles to recruit and retain senior medical staff. Last month, it emerged that hundreds of scans at LUH were being reviewed after an internal check found more than one-third of a locum radiologist’s work contained errors. The consultant’s contract was terminated as a result of concerns raised about the standard of their work.

Separately, a number of files relating to a locum consultant urologist are being reviewed. The locum consultant was placed on leave in September and is no longer working at the hospital.

Last May, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland recommended an urgent review of the emergency department in the hospital. In a report, it also called on LUH and the Saolta hospital group, to address the issue of medical recruitment and retention across all grades.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said on Thursday night it received correspondence from GPs and consultants working in Donegal and Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) in October and November raising concerns about waiting times at the emergency department and wider concerns in the hospital.

“In October the Minister for Health met with the HSE CEO Bernard Gloster, and agreed that the HSE Performance Management and Improvement Unit (PMIU) was to travel to LUH in November to visit the hospital. A six-week improvement plan is now in place for Letterkenny Hospital which focuses on patient flow, integration between community and hospital services, and the use of information to measure and monitor performance improvement. Minister Donnelly will engage with doctors and hospital management during a visit to Donegal tomorrow,” he added.

Last month following the earlier letter from consultants the Saolta hospital group, which includes LUH, said it and the hospital acknowledge the challenges facing the hospital and are taking all available steps to address these. “The last 18 months has seen a very significant increase in demand on our services and infrastructure. The hospital has seen a 10 per cent increase in ED attendances from January to August 2023 vs the same period in 2022.

“The hospital and group are working on a range of investment and development projects for Letterkenny University Hospital. We acknowledge that a number of our consultants have raised concerns in this regard and we will continue to work with them to develop our capacity and enhance our services,” it said.