Modular extension considered as LUH emergency department feels strain

Management at Letterkenny University Hospital are exploring options to extend the emergency department at the facility.

In recent days, staff have been struggling to cope, such has been the strain on the hospital’s ED.

Medical staff have had to carry out tests on some patients in the corridors of the hospital with the ED said to be ‘extremely busy’ this week.

LUH is under pressure with bed availability and patients continue to experience lengthy waiting times for admission. On Friday morning, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reported that there were 29 people awaiting admission at the facility.

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Patients have been warned that if they attend the ED for routine and non-urgent treatment they ‘will experience very long waiting times’.

Daily figures presenting to the ED remain high. In the last week, 145 was the lowest daily amount attending the ED and the figure was as high as 190 on one day.

“Many of the attendances are patients who are very sick and need to be admitted to the hospital for treatment,” a spokesperson for the Saolta University Health Group said. A changeover in trainee staff who are undergoing their medical education programmes has also been cited as a contributing factor.

On Tuesday, for example, 175 people attended the ED with 69 patients admitted to the hospital. The high figures continued later in the week with the figures for July so far showing an increase of 300 on the same period 12 months ago.

This week, some of the hospital’s clinical staff have hd to triage some patients in the corridors. Some medical tests, including blood pressure checks, have also been carried out in the corridors at times when no cubicles were free.

Hospital bosses are leasing with the HSE in an attempt to extend the emergency department.

Although a permanent extension remains a long-term remedy being examined, senior staff are keen to address the matter with modular extensions now being considered as a possibility.

A Saolta spokesperson added: “Many of the attendances are patients who are very sick and need to be admitted to the hospital for treatment.

“We continue to request that people consider other options for non-emergency care such as Out of Hours GP and pharmacies before attending an ED.”