A group of Donegal GPs who requested an urgent meeting with the Health Minister to raise concerns over patient safety in the Emergency Department at Letterkenny University Hospital have deferred a meeting next week.
Minister Stephen Donnelly proposed to meet with the doctors next week.
The doctors have told the Minister that with every passing week of the continuing crisis at the hospital patients remain at increased risk of serious adverse outcomes.
Minister Stephen Donnelly offered to meet with a group of GPs who wrote to him calling for an external review of Letterkenny University Hospital’s ED next Wednesday by video or with a delegation at Leinster House.
However, the group of doctors in Donegal responded to the Minister’s office saying given the gravity of the situation, and given that 100 doctors in the service in Donegal are highlighting major patient safety concerns, it remains our expectation they say, as originally outlined, that a meeting will take place on site at Letterkenny University Hospital.
In their correspondence, the group told Minister Donnelly that they believe his Prescence will ensure the full engagement of key stakeholders from hospital management and the SAOLTA group.
In a statement issued today, the doctors say patients need and deserve a visit by the Minister to the hospital.
They say they are open to along with consultants and hospital management to meet the Minister in Donegal as soon as possible.
