A senior consultant in Donegal says a 'water-charges-style' national campaign is needed for action to be taken to improve the health service
New figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show that the number on trolleys has more than doubled in Sligo and Letterkenny Hospitals over the last ten years.
Consultant radiologist in Letterkenny, Dr. Conaill Mac A Bhaird has expressed his horror at the conditions he has witnessed staff in the A and E working in last week.
It comes as Letterkenny in particular has witnessed a surge in the number of people waiting for a bed at the hospital this Spring and Summer.
Today, the INMO figures which look at trolley figures over the past ten years show that the numbers on trolleys have more than doubled from 204 in Letterkenny in May of 2006 to 507 people waiting last month (May 2017).
Speaking to Ocean FM, Dr. Mac A Bhaird says it's simply irresponsible to have people working in these conditions:
[audio mp3="https://img.oceanfm.ie/prod/uploads/2017/06/conaill1.mp3"][/audio]
The figures show an escalating problem in Sligo as well where there were just 47 patients on trolleys in the month of May back in 2006 and that figure again and risen to 132 people last month.
Dr. Mac A Bhaird says more funding is needed to make a better health service and that a 2% increase in taxes in order to achieve that is something politicians need to have the courage to put forward as a viable solution to the current crisis.
But he says people have to put pressure on their politicians in the same way as they did successfully in fighting for the abolition of water charges:
[audio mp3="https://img.oceanfm.ie/prod/uploads/2017/06/conaill2.mp3"][/audio]
