Saolta group fined for waiting list breaches as trolley numbers rise again at LUH

The HSE has fined the country’s acute hospitals over 3.7 million euro for breaching waiting list targets for the last five months of 2015.
A report in the January edition of the Health Manager Journal says the fines have been levied on hospital groups, rather than individual hospitals. The largest cumulative fine for 2015 – €1.189 million has been imposed on the Saolta Group, of which Letterkennmy University Hospital is a member.
The targets state that nobody should wait more than 18 months for hospital treatment, however hospital managers say the main reason they fail to meet targets is lack of resources.
Meanwhile, it’s not clear if the fining scheme will continue into 2016.
Meanwhile, there were 18 patients awaiting admission to Letterkenny University Hospital this morning, 10 on trollies in the Emergency Department and eight in chairs on the wards.