The worst hospital in the world......

homer simpson

....award goes to letterkenny, in my opinion anyways. over the lastfews weeks i've known a number of people to go in and out of the hospital. the latest one takes the biscuit.

My girlfriends 18month old goddaughter went to casulty yesterday at 12noon, she was reluctant to start walking and recently she has developed a limp, she was taken to the local doctor who imediatly refeared her to casulty hesiad it could be a dislocated hip which would have been out since birth, surely there are ways of checking these things when in for checkups! the got out of casulty shortly after 11pm last night and they still know nothing, all they done was take blood and do an x-ray, so they sat for 11 hours to be told comeback on monday we don't really know what it is!!!!

Second is my girlfrinds grandmother, she fell about 6 weeks ago, went to casulty had scans and x-rays was told all fine go home. On moday night / tuesday morning she took a turn, doctor came out said blood suger levels were down , took another turn on wednesday morning, doc sent her to hospital by ambulance, discovered she has a fractured back which happened during the fall 6 weeks previous!!! she is coming around a small bit nowbut still unsure of what was causing the turns.

I could go on , its a bloody disgrace i know if god forbid anything happens to me i want sent to ballykelly, i'd rather pay a huge bill and know i'm getting treated peoperly rather than paying a huge bill in letterkenny and not get treated properly. It also makes me wonder how many more people does this happen to and these things never get discovered? anyone else have any stories to share?

P.S. i know the spelling is terrible it was typed in a hurry.

allandanyways

Dont live up there but know somebody who went down from Inishowen to have pins taken out of his legs and they had him knocked out and opened up on the table and all and basically went "Oh shíte, we don't have the right thingymabobby to take them out. Sorry!"

What kind of hospital does that? Surely you'd check you had everything for a scheduled procedure?

weiss

i'm literally scared of going near the place...far too many bad stories.
its not even funny. (most people i talked to, laugh about how incompetent the staff are)

weiss

bit of a rant here, but i'm asking myself why the hell we bother paying taxes when its pissed down the drain for so-called "services"

i honestly feel like just getting away from this country for good.

its no-brainer to stay while our politicians are yet again off on holiday while this country falls apart..they would make you vomit.

muffler

Rate my hospital would be a good place to visit

loveissucide

My aunt and uncle work there, and they both agree the godforsaken place is steadily falling apart.

ChewChew

There is no excuse for why somethings are missed when it comes to A&E. unfortunately, they are departments that are badly run and managed from an A&E dept point of view. staff shortages etc are a huge factor, but I dont need to mention that I'm sure.

I work in a hospital in Dublin and many of our patients come from Letterkenny general.

to be honest, there are not enough services nationwide. Why are they all in Dublin? Why? It is absolutely ridiculous. The 3 main childrens hospitals are in Dublin and for the life of me I cannot fathom why and why there are not more nationwide.

Prof Drumm and Mary Harney need to realise that ward closures, staffing issues and the new doctor rosters are not the way forward. they are probably about 20 years back on the line.

Doctors can only do so much. as can nurses. But when a doctor is expected to see someone in A&E on a saturday night and they dont have the full staffing compliment required, then what is one to do?

it's a nationwide disaster. Not just a letterkenny general disaster.

smashey

I have had a lot of experience of LGH this year and mostly it has been terrible.

The only good thing I could find were the nurses. They are worth their weight in gold.

irish1967

Have to agree with smashey had cause to be up there a few times this year. Nurses were fantastic. Pity they haven't got the background support that they so richly deserve.

With regard the kids having to go to hospital in Dublin a good example is demonstrated in the show I mentioned in the other thread here on Monday 13th July at 7.30 on RTE. A kid from letterkenny travelling on bus eireann for a 20 min appointment in Dublin. Ridiculous.

Lobster

weiss wrote: »

i'm literally scared of going near the place...far too many bad stories.
its not even funny. (most people i talked to, laugh about how incompetent the staff are)

Not all the staff, many do trojan work to make the best of what they have, as in the rest of the hospitals. It should also be said about A & E that if staff had less drunks and people who aren't in serious enough condition to be there to deal with, things might be a lot better.

weiss

lobster wrote:

Not all the staff...

I wasn't specific enough, but then you're not allowed to talk about those in authority destroying the country. :rolleyes:

Definitely nurses and doctors do the best they can with the resources they're given.

So what's the problem? it certainly isn't lack of money, IMO it's lack of leadership from the spineless FF government.

You're not allowed to expect high standards from authority in this country.
You're not allowed to question, criticise or hold anyone in authority accountable for their job.

You expect nothing from public sector and you get nothing, and thats how it works here, apparently.

If FF believe increasing taxes will solve a well known systemic problem, young people may aswell start emigrating again because they'll live nothing but a life of poverty subsidising a worthless public sector.

It has been going on for decades - people in private sector subsidising an unaccountable, unproductive public sector.

IMHO, i don't see why a private sector worker should clock more hours, doing a hell of alot more work, be held accountable for that work and get paid less, all while paying extortionate taxes just to keep the public sector happy.

In other countries for the public sector, the opposite is true, yet in Ireland it's almost acceptable.

Public sector workers get paid more, have more holidays, more benefits and yet they constantly complain about how hard their life is, what's that all about?

Sick to death listening to them..they've no idea how easy they have it, no clue.

And it's relevant to the OPs topic, because it's those in authority who are bleeding the country dry of available funds to run any kind of services including those at the LGH.

muffler

Lets try and keep this on topic. There is a politics forum for everything else

ChewChew

weiss wrote: »

Public sector workers get paid more, have more holidays, more benefits and yet they constantly complain about how hard their life is, what's that all about?

Sick to death listening to them..they've no idea how easy they have it, no clue.

Really? thats interesting. I worked in the private sector and when I moved to the public sector, my earnings dropped. I have the same amout of holidays as I did in the private sector, now I just have flexi leave. which is not free. you have to work for it. I have no benefits of working for the HSE so can you tell me what I am missing out on? And I love my job, and rarely complain. everyone is entitled to have a bad day right?

And if you get really really ''sick to death'' dont go to a hospital. seriously. they are just lazy bastids

muffler

Next off topic posts and there will be bans. So you can all take responsibility for your own posts

Its a good thread and it would be a pity to see it get ruined by political statements that are better off elsewhere

Essexboy

Two retired nurses who worked in Britain told me that they visited a friend in Letterkenny Hospital.
While he was in the toilet a nurse came to make the bed: she threw all the bedclothes on the ground, then replaced them on the bed.
They were shocked and wanted to complain but were persuaded by the patient not to do because "they" might retaliate.

ChewChew

Essexboy wrote: »

Two retired nurses who worked in Britain told me that they visited a friend in Letterkenny Hospital.
While he was in the toilet a nurse came to make the bed: she threw all the bedclothes on the ground, then replaced them on the bed.
They were shocked and wanted to complain but were persuaded by the patient not to do because "they" might retaliate.

Thats crazy! some nurses and indeed doctors are a little laid back with stuff like that. I was in Beaumont hospital recently and there was a lady who had just been transferred down from ICU to a high obs ward after Neuro surgery and the doctor came in to change her dressings on her head and he open all the steri packagings and then when he got to the girl he put gloves on. I was sooo digusted and gobsmacked but now I am ragin I didn't say something

bohsboy

Brought my young fella to Letterkennt after our GP thought he could hear a murmur. The specialist "confirmed" it and we were devestated, he had to be sent to "confirm it properly" to Sligo Hospital for an ultrasound as they had'nt got the proper equipment in Letterkenny.

Six weeks later and Sligo carried out the test, absolutely nothing wrong and informed us we were'nt the first ones to come down from this "specialist" in the same distressed state for no reason.

Senna

I have plenty of my own horror stories, one involving 5 repeat visits to the eye specialist in LKY hospital, to be told that my deteriorating eyesight in one eye was just a "lazy eye", it took my 75yr old grandfather (a builder by trade) to ask me if it could be a detached retina (common in boxing, which he loved), i asked the specialist on my 6 visit if it could be, he put in an eye drop and within 30 seconds said "yes its a detached retina":rolleyes: It was caught in time to keep 60% of the sight, but no thanks to the specialist.
Also a family member that almost lost his life due to going into surgery while on tablets that the surgeons didn't realise he was on even though it was on his medical records.

Despite all that, i would hardly blame one person in that hospital for the state its in. The culture of the HSE breeds this no-accountability bureaucracy, that staff "fit" into, rather than staff being challenged to create a better service.

Bomany

Like any institution the people who work there are a mixture of the diligent, the so-so and the awful. My child was in recently. Two nurses were fantastic. But three of the others had an incredibly bad attitude. I asked one of them when the consultant would be round and was greeted with a sigh/groan and a shrug of the shoulders. I told her that her attitude was not acceptable. She said there was no need to be so touchy! Unbelievable. This business of nurses being the salt of the earth is rubbish. Yeah there are some great ones but also a number of jobsworths who seem to feel the taxpayer owes them a living. Letterkenny General is also pretty dirty.

ladymarmalade

As a nurse i have to say we do the best we can with the resources that are available to us at any given time.

I agree LGH is an apalling hospital, thats through my own personal off-time experience.......... there are too many chiefs and not enough indians imo.


However if you find yourself in a situation where you are unhappy with the service you recieve or the staff who deal with you, do complain. Put your complaint in writing throught the HSE's '' your service your say'' pamphlet, copies of which are in every department. It's the only way to highlight persistent offenders within the srvice.

Broxi_Bear_Eire

I feel theres good and bad from personal experience I had a heart attack a five years ago and the treatment my received was second to none and the nurses, doctor's and consultant could not be faulted.

But my son who has had problems with his knee it keeps dislocating has had some pretty bad experiences ie no painkillers available to him because they had run out of the type he required

Mac055

I've had in total about 10 visits to Letterkenny hospital.. i think the nurses do a fantastic job, my complaint would in regard to the patient - doctor communication.. when i was a kid they spoke to my parents but as an adult it was impossible to get a straight answer from anyone!! they couldn't answer the simple questions!!!

But what takes the biscuit was on one of my visits i was told in the morning i was getting discharged... so i got ready to leave, the nurse was waiting to get the final ok from the doctor..i wasn't allowed to leave til they got confirmation.. so i was told to wait till he was finish in surgery..in the mean time i arranged transport home. an hour later my lift arrived.. 7hours later i'm still waiting... turns out the doctor finished surgery and went home!!

But i don't think this isolated to Letterkenny... i've been seen recently for a condition in St. Vincent's in dublin (i now live in dublin) and i've some cock ups in relation to this too.

My girlfriend works as a nurse in Crumlin.. she's australian and has not one good word to saw in regard to the irish healthcare system... she's had enough and is returning home, and i'm leaving with her as i've recently been made redundant.

puffdragon

Was in letterkenny hospital visiting some time ago and the carers(not sure if they were nurses or what ,they did'nt aknowledge any of us and sort of talked to each other as if no-one else was there) took another patient( the poor woman in the next bed) to the toilet and forgot to close the door while they lifted her nighty and exposed her to myself and company, I got up and closed the door myself to save her some embarrassment but I think the damage was done.

Dublin2Donegal

i have to say i found letterkenny hospital a dream the nurses and doctors are great and there birthing room is just like a hotel second to none:D if ye had no hospital then ther would be a reason to give out but from my experance with dublin hospitals, please be gratefull for what ye have, they can olny do so much.

tatabubbly

Crotchety wrote: »

I can see what you are saying but if the woman was in an all woman's ward then there should'nt be much of a problem. Older women look the same as younger women down there...just maybe more wrinkly or hairy.

Another point I would like to make is that the nurses are there to care for the patients needs - not to greet the visitors!

That's not the point! That poor woman didn't have her dignity intact which is one of the fundamental things carers are suppose to do!!!!

I was in LK hospital last year. As a 21 year old with a mysterious rash which even the doctors wouldn't touch in fear of catching my infection, i was shoved into a geriatrics ward. I seen an elderly lady get denied her basic rights of food as there was no carers present to feed her. I, on many occasions had to call the nurse as the poor lady couldn't lift her head to shout for a nurse. It was a disgrace. I'd pay to go to a private hospital. I wouldn't feed the food they gave me to my dog, it was lank and disgusting, my mum had to sneek in dinner for me. I'm not picky but there was no way i could have eaten there.
The nurses were a god-send and did their best but there wasn't enough staff...

BlackEdelweiss

tatabubbly wrote: »

I was in LK hospital last year. I wouldn't feed the food they gave me to my dog, it was lank and disgusting, my mum had to sneek in dinner for me. I'm not picky but there was no way i could have eaten there.

I used to work in the kitchens a few years ago and I know the food can be a bit bland but it is not as bad as people make out. You have to consider that the kitchen has to cater for several hundred people each day, patients, staff(medical, admin, housekeeping, maintenance etc) and visitors. This food is cooked by professional chefs who all do their best to keep the quality high but when you are cooking for such large numbers that can be quite difficult.
The meat and veg you eat there comes from the same suppliers as the fancy restaurants in the town get theirs. If anything the food in the hospital is safer to eat than anywhere in the town, your home included, their hygiene system is strictly adhered to as everyone in there is aware that any bad food could possibly kill a patient whose defenses are already down.
If you want top class food when you are in there they will have to increase the catering budget to pay for new ovens, new storage facilities, extra chefs, a whole new kitchen basically, a million quid should get it up and running anyway.
Your dog must be very lucky not to have to eat food cooked by a chef and tested several times to ensure it is safe to eat.

tatabubbly

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Your dog must be very lucky not to have to eat food cooked by a chef and tested several times to ensure it is safe to eat.

I didn't mean to be distasteful but even the nurses understood when i didn't want to eat the food.
I wasn't being upity but I did pay to stay there so it wasn't as if i was getting it for free and i was in there in quite a while.

The nurses were amazing but it's obvious that the hospital needs more funding but that requires the governments investment in a much larger way, and it shouldn't have anything to do with there being a recession.

eman66

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I used to work in the kitchens a few years ago and I know the food can be a bit bland but it is not as bad as people make out. You have to consider that the kitchen has to cater for several hundred people each day, patients, staff(medical, admin, housekeeping, maintenance etc) and visitors. This food is cooked by professional chefs who all do their best to keep the quality high but when you are cooking for such large numbers that can be quite difficult.
The meat and veg you eat there comes from the same suppliers as the fancy restaurants in the town get theirs. If anything the food in the hospital is safer to eat than anywhere in the town, your home included, their hygiene system is strictly adhered to as everyone in there is aware that any bad food could possibly kill a patient whose defenses are already down.
If you want top class food when you are in there they will have to increase the catering budget to pay for new ovens, new storage facilities, extra chefs, a whole new kitchen basically, a million quid should get it up and running anyway.
Your dog must be very lucky not to have to eat food cooked by a chef and tested several times to ensure it is safe to eat.

The food that is served in the staff canteen is of a far higher standard than the food given to the patients or the food that is for sale in the public cafe.

Trish2007

The food the patient get comes from the same kitchen as the food that is served in the dining room. The menu is probably different though to account for all the dietry needs of the patients ie low fat, low salt, low carb or whatever. You also have to account for the fact that the food has to get from the kitchen to the patient so it may have been plated up and kept warm for a bit. People are forever complaining about the food in LK hospital but how many of them have stayed in other hospitals around the country. I was in the maternity hospital in Limerick and had to resort to getting sandwiches brought in.

Local-womanizer

The last time I was in LGH they where great,in and out in 2-3 hours,x-rays and all.Staff were really friendly and helpful.My uncle was in LGH alot with cancer,again,absoulty fantastic all round.Of course there have been bad things said about the place,but I'am sure its the same in every hospital in the country.

muffler

Id have mixed feelings about the hospital having witnessed both all that is good and all that is bad about it.

I recall having my appendix removed and the operation was done fairly late at night. The next morning the surgeon and his team were doing the rounds and he came over to me and swiped off the dressing that was around the "wound". There was a big lump of padding on it and in turn this was held in place by, what looked like, a huge sticky/adhesive plaster.

In any event it was stuck to the skin and he just ripped it off and Holy Sweet Jesus I nearly roared in agony. When he was done he "patted" it back down into place again and then told the nurse to change it which meant she had to rip it off again :eek: