LGH A&E flooded!!

echo beach

Noreen1 wrote: »

I can't help wondering whether those who control the purse strings have any idea just how much pressure the staff are under, or care what happens to the patients who depend on the hospital...

It seems clear that nobody outside Donegal either knows or cares what is happening and there has been no attempt to provide the public with information as to what is happening and what they should do in case of emergency.
It has been left to the staff on the ground to cope as best they can and if there are unfortunate consequences they will be held responsible. The minister should have appointed two senior people from his department to come to Letterkenny, one to manage the ongoing clean-up and restoration of services and one to deal with looking after those patients in the hospital and those needing hospital services. They should have the authority to do what needs to be done in terms of spending money and redeploying staff and report directly to the Minister two to three times a day. There should be daily updates on what has been done, what the present situation is and the projected timescale for a return to normality.
Already this is last week's news and has been replaced by some other priority.

ednwireland

echo beach wrote: »

It seems clear that nobody outside Donegal either knows or cares what is happening and there has been no attempt to provide the public with information as to what is happening and what they should do in case of emergency.
It has been left to the staff on the ground to cope as best they can and if there are unfortunate consequences they will be held responsible. The minister should have appointed two senior people from his department to come to Letterkenny, one to manage the ongoing clean-up and restoration of services and one to deal with looking after those patients in the hospital and those needing hospital services. They should have the authority to do what needs to be done in terms of spending money and redeploying staff and report directly to the Minister two to three times a day. There should be daily updates on what has been done, what the present situation is and the projected timescale for a return to normality.
Already this is last week's news and has been replaced by some other priority.

that would imply that our politicians are actually capable of formulating and executing a plan (with some joined up thinking inbetween) something i think every politician in the dail is singularly incapable of.

there seem to be a lot of ambulances on the road to sligo saw about half a dozen in about an hour lat thursday night (happened to be stood by the side of the road !)

Noreen1

echo beach wrote: »

It seems clear that nobody outside Donegal either knows or cares what is happening and there has been no attempt to provide the public with information as to what is happening and what they should do in case of emergency.
It has been left to the staff on the ground to cope as best they can and if there are unfortunate consequences they will be held responsible. The minister should have appointed two senior people from his department to come to Letterkenny, one to manage the ongoing clean-up and restoration of services and one to deal with looking after those patients in the hospital and those needing hospital services. They should have the authority to do what needs to be done in terms of spending money and redeploying staff and report directly to the Minister two to three times a day. There should be daily updates on what has been done, what the present situation is and the projected timescale for a return to normality.
Already this is last week's news and has been replaced by some other priority.

My sentiments, exactly.

I watched RTE news now this morning, hoping for an update.

I was treated to never-ending repeats of interviews with some Dublin Bus executice, and a Union executive about the Dublin Bus dispute, and lots of sports results.
Now I understand that the bus dispute is newsworthy - but more newsworthy than the fact that a County with a population of 160,000 (census 2011) has only 20% of their hospital services?
"Yerra, sure, they'll be grand!"

So, what about the newspapers?

Irish Independent? Nothing!

Herald.ie? Nope!

Irish Examiner - No. They're not interested, either!

Irish Times? - Finally!

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/letterkenny-hospital-clear-up-to-take-at-least-one-year-1.1484671

It will take up to a year for Letterkenny General Hospital to return to normal following serious flooding late last month, according to its manager.The cost of the destruction caused by the flooding will run into tens of millions of euro, Seán Murphy estimates, though most of this will be covered by insurance.

I should note, that, further into the interview, what Sean Murphy actually said/speculated the final cost might be was "double figure millions".

It's also good to hear that most of it will be covered by insurance - but -

Is there any interview with the HSE/James Reilly, seeking to confirm that the shortfall will be covered? Not likely!
That would require some investigation - and we're apparently not that important!

The flood waters affected 40 per cent of the surface area of the hospital and 80 per cent of its services. Among the services affected were the emergency department, radiology, coronary care, outpatients, gynaecology and pharmacy, as well as the kitchen, mortuary and medical records department.

Finally, some acknowledgment that more than 40% of the hospital is affected.
It would be reasonable, at this point, to expect sufficient concern about the patients to enquire further into their well-being!
Maybe a risk assessment? Some human interest stories? (I could tell you of 2 or 3 cases that are newsworthy, within a 2 mile radius of my doorstep - I'm sure there are plenty more!)
Nothing there, either! Hmm...

At the weekend, a minor injuries treatment services opened for patients coming through the local NoWDOC service. Walk-in patients are not being treated.

So, that's what's happening in the temporary A&E! Minor injuries treatment!

Without wishing to appear paranoid - it seems that we truly are the forgotten County!

Our media are not operating in the public interest, by highlighting, or even questioning how this disaster is being managed.
Our politicians are contenting themselves with hospital visits, coupled with a little hand-wringing, and "calls" for "something" to be done, together with the now-obligatory praise for the staff! (Which is well-deserved, to be fair!)

The cynic in me sees a bunch of professional spinners looking to the next election.
It doesn't seem to have occurred to them that the people of Donegal will not remember what they said - we'll remember what they actually achieved!

Right now, none of them have achieved enough to be worthy of a vote, imho!

Neither have any of our National newspapers, or TV stations, given this a level of coverage that would induce me to buy their papers, or consider the TV licence to be worth what it costs, tbh.

ednwireland

Letterkenny General Hospital has said that a resumption of visiting which had been scheduled for this afternoon has been postponed following after medical advice.

Flooding at the hospital over a week ago left parts of it contaminated and services were disrupted as a result.

The hospital's management apologised to the public for prematurely announcing that visiting would resume today.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0805/466495-letterkenny-hospital/

Noreen1

Nice of them to remember we exist!
Maybe next time they could manage to enquire how GPs, NowDoc, LGH staff, and the various hospitals are coping!

muffler

Just on the RTE News now - visiting is still cancelled until further notice.

NIMAN

The coverage is definitely very minimal. But then we are the forgotten county.

If this had happened to a Dublin hospital you can be sure it would be reported on nightly for weeks in the news.

Back to LGH, does anyone know if there were any volunteers from the town and surrounding areas allowed to help in the clean-up (or if anyone offered)? After all, there are a lot of people sitting around doing nothing all day, I am sure their efforts would have been accepted.

Noreen1

There are reports in the newspapers (or were!), that 500 volunteers turned up to help with the cleanup!
Impressive!

NIMAN

Well thats great to hear. Typical Donegal community spirit.

echo beach

Noreen1 wrote: »

Neither have any of our National newspapers, or TV stations, given this a level of coverage that would induce me to buy their papers, or consider the TV licence to be worth what it costs, tbh.

Would have to agree with you there. What is even more annoying about the lack of coverage is that all the papers had reporters in Glenties at the time to fill up pages with what 'important' people had to say at the McGill Summer School but couldn't interview a single 'ordinary' person affected by the hospital closure.

The HSE website does have a link on its front page http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Campaigns/letterkennyupdate.html
but doesn't tell us when it was last updated and it doesn't include a single target date. The fact that they weren't able to resume visiting when expected is not only disappointing for the patients but also for all of us hoping for a speedy return to near normality.

Noreen1

echo beach wrote: »

Would have to agree with you there. What is even more annoying about the lack of coverage is that all the papers had reporters in Glenties at the time to fill up pages with what 'important' people had to say at the McGill Summer School but couldn't interview a single 'ordinary' person affected by the hospital closure.

The HSE website does have a link on its front page http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Campaigns/letterkennyupdate.html
but doesn't tell us when it was last updated and it doesn't include a single target date. The fact that they weren't able to resume visiting when expected is not only disappointing for the patients but also for all of us hoping for a speedy return to near normality.

Agreed.

Though I doubt anything remotely resembling normality will be achievable for quite some time.

Having said that, I noticed two big mobile units outside the hospital today - one marked X-ray scanner, and the other marked CT scanner - so at least some diagnostic services are showing signs of coming on-stream.
Mind you, I'm not sure how they're going to manage with one or two x-rays
(It's a 40 foot trailer, so, I suspect it'll be one machine, allowing for screening for the radiologists, and unless they're waiting for more to be delivered - that's a huge reduction!)
From memory, I think there were 5 or 6 x-ray rooms, before the facility was extended and the CT scanner and MRI were introduced.
I think there were another 2-3 x-ray rooms incorporated at that time, but I've only ever been in one of the new rooms, for x-ray, so I couldn't be sure what was in the other one or two!

As ro what the "important" people were saying at the McGill School - that read like a repeat of assorted Boards threads from the previous few months.:D:D
Who knew we were such an inspiration to the "important" people.:P:D:D

I'm fairly sure that HSE page was updated today, there's more info on there than the last time I checked, which was, at most, 48 hours ago.
It would be helpful if they could tell us when it was last updated, though!

donegal_road

a friend of mine who works in the hospital told me tonight, that it is supposed to be the biggest disaster to happen a hospital in Europe since WW2

Noreen1

I wouldn't be surprised, tbh.

water-man

Hi,

I haven't read every post so forgive me if this has been covered.

But what are you supposed to do in an emergency?

Ok so we still have to go to NoWDoC first. At least before it was then a short trip to the general hospital.

So now I need to drive to NowDoc in L'kenny, wait for who knows how long there and then drive to Sligo if needed? That seems a bit crazy.

What if its more serious? Call 999 ambulance comes where do they go then?

I pray that nothing bad will happen but I can envisage lives been lost because of this.

And can Sligo cope with all the excess people?

Has there been any suggesting of setting up a "field" hospital somewhere? There must be some large business units not being used that could be fitted out? I know there would be issues but sometimes needs must.

WM

Flibbles

water-man wrote: »

Hi,

I haven't read every post so forgive me if this has been covered.

But what are you supposed to do in an emergency?

Ok so we still have to go to NoWDoC first. At least before it was then a short trip to the general hospital.

So now I need to drive to NowDoc in L'kenny, wait for who knows how long there and then drive to Sligo if needed? That seems a bit crazy.

What if its more serious? Call 999 ambulance comes where do they go then?

I pray that nothing bad will happen but I can envisage lives been lost because of this.

And can Sligo cope with all the excess people?

Has there been any suggesting of setting up a "field" hospital somewhere? There must be some large business units not being used that could be fitted out? I know there would be issues but sometimes needs must.

WM

If it's an ambulance call, they'll either go to Derry or if Derry is full, Enniskillen.

Mint Sauce

water-man wrote: »

Hi,

I haven't read every post so forgive me if this has been covered.

But what are you supposed to do in an emergency?

Ok so we still have to go to NoWDoC first. At least before it was then a short trip to the general hospital.

So now I need to drive to NowDoc in L'kenny, wait for who knows how long there and then drive to Sligo if needed? That seems a bit crazy.

What if its more serious? Call 999 ambulance comes where do they go then?

I pray that nothing bad will happen but I can envisage lives been lost because of this.

And can Sligo cope with all the excess people?

Has there been any suggesting of setting up a "field" hospital somewhere? There must be some large business units not being used that could be fitted out? I know there would be issues but sometimes needs must.

WM

Dial 999 as normal if an emergancy, or contact GP if unsure.

Have read that Sligo's A&E rate has gone up 50%, unclear weather this is Ambulance, GP referrals, Walk Ins, or a combination of the lot.

Noreen1

You call NowDoc.
All NowDoc centres are operating normally, (or are supposed to be, anyway). It's just that some of the hospital clinics have been moved to NowDoc, L'kenny.

In an emergency, call 911, and ask for an ambulance.

There is no point in going to LK General, unless you are referred there by NowDoc, as only Maternity is taking admissions, with some limited Paeds (childrens) cover, and a temporary A&E, for minor injuries only, and only with a referral from NowDoc.
That's the advice on the HSE advice page, anyway! (Link above!)

ps. Maternity is operating normally, so, either call NowDoc, or the Maternity dept - depending on the problem.

Noreen1

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/floodhit-ae-open-within-days-29488155.html

Sean Murphy said yesterday that he hoped the hospital could begin seeing emergency department patients in "a matter of days, rather than weeks".
Mr Murphy also admitted for the first time that 70pc of services had been lost due to the catastrophe.
However, Paul Connors, director of communications with the HSE, admitted an internal report into the causes of the flood may not be made public.
"We strive to make all these things public but there may be lots of other factors which may not let us do that," he said.
It's understood the comments relate to possible legal actions arising out of the flood.
Mr Connors also dismissed claims that works on a stream that should have taken place in 2002 didn't go ahead, saying they did so in 2006.

Hmm. I'm disappointed, but not surprised.
If the Donegal News is to be believed, it seems there may be other things that aren't being made public, either - there's an awful lot of conflicting information out there.

I drove out the Derry road yesterday, and met one ambulance on its way back to Letterkenny, and was overtaken by two more, en route to Derry, and a NowDoc car as well.
I wonder how much longer Altnagelvin, Enniskillen, and Sligo hospitals can take the extra strain, not to mention the ambulance service?

I notice most of the information in the media seems to be related to restoring A&E services.
It's strange that there is no mention of even a vague plan for the restoration of other services, or even discussion of when whatever demolition/rebuilding might begin?

The above report seems to suggest that the HSE are aware of at least some information regarding the cause of the flooding. If they're aware that they may never make it public, then they're aware of a reason not to do so, whether that's possible litigation, or whatever.

That would suggest that the engineers report is complete, so I'm curious as to why there are no plans being made public regarding whatever rebuilding is necessary.
I hope they're not waiting for the results of any legal proceedings before commencing full restoration works!:eek:

mistermouse

There was a news report on the RTE 9 News. Didn't appear to be much new in it though it seems pre-fabs are being erected and these with the mobile trucks already in place will be A&E for some time to come.

I'd imagine the push to get A&E up and running in some form is not only due to the necessity but also the fact that Derry are only accepting life or death admissions now

I am surprised though that at government level, some form of emergency task force is not in place with this being treated as a major disaster. The goodwill and facilities of Northern Ireland and even Sligo cannot be counted on indefinitely and extending Ambulance travelling times certainly isn't a long term option. The Ambulances also have to spend time travelling back to Base which must be leaving Donegal short at times

Noreen1

mistermouse wrote: »

There was a news report on the RTE 9 News. Didn't appear to be much new in it though it seems pre-fabs are being erected and these with the mobile trucks already in place will be A&E for some time to come.

I'd imagine the push to get A&E up and running in some form is not only due to the necessity but also the fact that Derry are only accepting life or death admissions now

I am surprised though that at government level, some form of emergency task force is not in place with this being treated as a major disaster. The goodwill and facilities of Northern Ireland and even Sligo cannot be counted on indefinitely and extending Ambulance travelling times certainly isn't a long term option. The Ambulances also have to spend time travelling back to Base which must be leaving Donegal short at times

There doesn't seem to be any urgency, at Government level, to address what is a very real emergency.

It seems to be a case of dumping it all on already overworked medical personnel, while the various TDs/Ministers seem to think that showing their faces at the hospital, and doing a bit of hand-wringing, and muttering vague promises of "support", is all that is required of them.

Sooner or later, something is going to give - whether that is Altnagelvin and Enniskillen saying enough is enough, and withdrawing support, or just one major emergency, such as a coach crash (God forbid!) - and the whole thing is going to fall apart!
Just imagine the mess if there were a major accident, whether RTA, or Fire, or whatever - and we don't even have enough ambulances to cope, never mind a hospital to take people to! It's unbelievable, in this day and age!

Do those responsible for running the Country, and ensuring that people have the services they need, care? Apparently not!

echo beach

Noreen1 wrote: »

There doesn't seem to be any urgency, at Government level, to address what is a very real emergency.

It isn't a real emergency to them because it isn't on their doorstep.
Out of sight is out of mind and the media are making sure that it is kept well out of sight, and sound.

Noreen1

Actually, it's worse than that, if you think about it.

The media are feeding the people the occasional reassuring "drip" of information, making it appear that everything is fine, restoration of services are underway, and there's no problem!

There is absolutely no investigative journalism!
It's constantly "Services X, Y, and Z are operating normally!" - with no mention of the fact that there are practically no admissions, and no mention of which services are not operating at all!

Independent media, my eye!

echo beach

Noreen1 wrote: »

I'm fairly sure that HSE page was updated today, there's more info on there than the last time I checked, which was, at most, 48 hours ago.
It would be helpful if they could tell us when it was last updated, though!

Somebody is listening. Website now tells us when it was last updated (today) and has figures for the numbers being seen in Letterkenny, Derry and Enniskillen, but not Sligo, who haven't manged to do a headcount.
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Campaigns/letterkennyupdate.html

ednwireland

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0816/468565-letterkenny-hospital/

A temporary Emergency Department will open on a phased basis at Letterkenny General Hospital starting tomorrow following the serious flood three weeks ago.

The temporary facility, which will open at 10am, has been made possible by bringing mobile diagnostic equipment and modular buildings onto the hospital site.

Curly Judge

I'm looking forward to hearing a full report on why the flooding took place.
Wonder if I'll have to wait much longer?

michael999999

Curly Judge wrote: »

I'm looking forward to hearing a full report on why the flooding took place.
Wonder if I'll have to wait much longer?

What we will get is the usual get out for the incompetent planners and engineers, our Governments love spending massive money employing!

Sure wasn't it a one in a hundred year event, thr planners and engineers could not possibly have accounted for it!

echo beach

Curly Judge wrote: »

I'm looking forward to hearing a full report on why the flooding took place.
Wonder if I'll have to wait much longer?

I hope you are a patient person, a very patient person.

Curly Judge

echo beach wrote: »

I hope you are a patient person, a very patient person.

Don't worry.
They may have the watch but I have the time!

danniemcq

Walk ins being accepted from midday today

echo beach

Heard it was busy yesterday with GP referrals but moving those who could go home again pretty quickly. Not sure what the position was for anybody needing admission.
No coffee dock makes the wait feel longer so go prepared.