THE MINISTER for Health has appealed to a Donegal consultant who says he has virtually no work to do at Letterkenny General Hospital to “look at solutions” instead of “always identifying problems”.
Senior orthopaedic consultant Peter O’Rourke had said that though he was earning €225,000 a year, he had “nothing to do” because of cutbacks.
The surgeon said he was unable to carry out elective procedures at the hospital, such as hip and knee replacements, because the hospital had postponed them due to budgetary overruns.
He described himself as very underworked; he and his colleagues were not allowed to carry out joint replacements except to use up a small number of joints already paid for. He and two colleagues had carried out up to 185 joint replacements on average a year, but only expected to carry out 125 this year.
Mary Harney said she did not accept Mr O’Rourke had nothing to do. “There are waiting lists for outpatient appointments at Letterkenny hospital, perhaps that consultant and others could apply themselves to seeing those outpatients.
“I would appeal to the consultant in question to talk with the hospital, his colleagues in the hospital and hospital management to resolve whatever issues arise.”
She said people needed to be pragmatic about their approach.
“I would urge everybody in this time of huge economic challenges to look at solutions and not to be always identifying problems.”
Ms Harney said there was no more money for the health service this year and there would be less money next year.
“I would urge everybody that at this time of national and economic crisis, particularly with the flu pandemic and the challenges that poses to the health system, to look at finding solutions working on the ground.” .
She said solutions could not be “imposed from the top”.
“I can’t impose a solution from Dublin . . . only the people that work in the hospital can solve those problems within the budget that is available this year.”
A spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive said Letterkenny General Hospital was legally obliged to remain within budget.
The HSE would be undertaking few hip and knee replacements for a number of weeks to ensure funding could be prioritised in critical areas like cancer and, dialysis.
Responding to Ms Harney’s comments last night, Mr O’Rourke said he had offered on numerous occasions to run extra outpatient clinics but that would require extra nurses and administrative staff which the hospital could not afford to pay for.
“The hospital has a budget and if it has to be spent for other services then the money has to come from somewhere,” he said.
“The Government has refused to acknowledge that services are being affected by the cutbacks.”
