The Emergency Department at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) is extremely busy with high numbers of people attending the department who need to be admitted to hospital for ongoing treatment.
Saolta are requesting that people consider other options for non-emergency care such as Out-of-Hours GP services and pharmacies before attending the ED.
171 people attended at the Emergency Department yesterday and the hospital is seeing similar high numbers today.
There are currently 66 patients in the ED, with 23 patients waiting to be admitted.
The hospital is advising that patients who attend ED for routine and non-urgent treatment will experience very long waiting times.
Due to the pressures on the site and the lack of bed capacity, the hospital is postponing some elective procedures and patients are being contacted directly if they are affected.
Saolta continue to request that people only attend the Emergency Department at the hospital if it is an emergency situation and ask that people attend their GP or out of hours service in the first instance if at all possible.
All visitors to the hospital will be required to practice good hand hygiene and use hand gel regularly, face masks are available for use throughout the hospital.
