A CO Donegal family says they had to wait SEVEN hours for their mother to be seen at Sligo Regional Hospital as staff struggled to cope with the knock-on from the Letterkenny Hospital crisis.
And Donegal Daily can reveal that NO extra nurses or doctors were provided this week to Sligo’s A&E Department despite the extra casualties being brought in from Donegal.
One week after Letterkenny hospital was flooded causing €8M worth of damage, the daughter of a 78-year-old has told of the ‘outrageous’ way Sligo nurses were left to cope.
“We arrived with my mother at A&E in Sligo at 8pm after being sent there by our GP,” said the Co Donegal woman.
“The department was very very busy and we asked how they were coping and we were told that they were expected to cope with the extra patients from Donegal with the same staff they normally have.
“They didn’t get a single extra nurse. They looked exhausted; they didn’t complain but it is a scandal that those poor nurses are not being given any extra help.
“We arrived at 8pm but it was seven hours before my mother was seen. People who have to go to Sligo should be warned – they are struggling to cope.”
Sean Murphy, the Letterkenny Hospital manager, said new mobile scanners and generators have now arrived in Letterkenny as he works towards setting up a new interim A&E department and interim radiology department on the Donegal site.
“We will have this ready in two weeks,” said Mr Murphy.
There will be some extra building work in order to achieve this, he said.