HARTE SLAMS PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVES FOR POOR HEALTH SERVICE
We need an equitable and efficient health service. The radiation link-up service with Belfast is not the best solution to Donegal - the solution is the provision of the service here in Letterkenny.
Currently, Letterkenny General Hospital has the longest operation waiting list in Ireland. According to figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund last October, 1,158 adults were waiting more than 12 months for treatment. This figure is almost twice as long as Tullamore Regional Hospital, who had the second longest waiting list in the country. This contradicts the Government’s target that no patient should wait more than three months for an operation. Recent official figures also show that in 2005, Letterkenny General Hospital had the highest level of cancelled elective procedures in the HSE West region (79%). The Donegal Action Cancer Care group had to take to the streets last year to secure a permanent breast surgeon in Letterkenny General Hospital. This would not have been necessary had the local government representatives done the job they were elected to do. We deserve better.
In light of the unacceptable developments in our health service, we need to ask ourselves whether we want a continuation of the same inadequate representation for the future. The facts, which are glaringly obvious, says a lot about the values of this Government and that the most vulnerable people in our county are treated with complete disregard.
We need an equitable and efficient health service. The radiation link-up service with Belfast is not the best solution to Donegal - the solution is the provision of the service here in Letterkenny.
Currently, Letterkenny General Hospital has the longest operation waiting list in Ireland. According to figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund last October, 1,158 adults were waiting more than 12 months for treatment. This figure is almost twice as long as Tullamore Regional Hospital, who had the second longest waiting list in the country. This contradicts the Government’s target that no patient should wait more than three months for an operation. Recent official figures also show that in 2005, Letterkenny General Hospital had the highest level of cancelled elective procedures in the HSE West region (79%). The Donegal Action Cancer Care group had to take to the streets last year to secure a permanent breast surgeon in Letterkenny General Hospital. This would not have been necessary had the local government representatives done the job they were elected to do. We deserve better.
In light of the unacceptable developments in our health service, we need to ask ourselves whether we want a continuation of the same inadequate representation for the future. The facts, which are glaringly obvious, says a lot about the values of this Government and that the most vulnerable people in our county are treated with complete disregard.