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Crisis as top surgeon quits
Letterkenny Hospital
13.02.15
DONEGAL'S cancer
services are in crisis today following the
resignation of a leading surgeon at Letterkenny
General Hospital.
Consultant urologist Kevin Moran said he does not
have enough resources to look after his patients
including 425 men with prostate cancers and 160 men
and women with bladder cancers.
Mr Moran, who has been at LGH for 24 years, said: “I
have taken the decision to resign as I don’t have
the resources to take care of my patients any more,”
said Mr Moran.
“I don’t have access to beds, I don’t have adequate
access to operating theatres and I can’t recruit and
retain the junior staff and support staff that I
need.
“The main issue is recruitment and retention. For
example, to replace me takes a general surgeon and a
urologist , two people, two disciplines, and while
they’re able to get a locum general surgeon I
believe they will have a major difficulty recruiting
a urologist.
"There's also a training issue. We had longer and
more intense training. There were no quality of life
issues, no weekends off," the veteran medic added. |
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Letterkenny General Hospital. |
Donegal Sinn Féin TDs
Pádraig MacLochlainn and Pearse Doherty are
demanding urgent answers from the Minister for
Health, Leo Varadkar and the management of the
Saolta University Healthcare Group following the
resignation.
"Over recent years, we have repeatedly raised our
serious concerns about the resources available to
Letterkenny General Hospital. Only this week, we met
Tony Canavan, the director of operations of the
Saolta University Healthcare Group and Sean Murphy,
the LGH manager to discuss those concerns.
“Only days after that meeting we now read about the
disturbing resignation and comments of Dr Kevin
Moran, the respected consultant urologist and
surgeon at the hospital," said Deputy MacLochlainn.
It is understood that a locum consultant general
surgeon has been appointed to the hospital from
February 23 until April 16 and that a temporary
general surgeon has been appointed for one year,
from April 16. |
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