HIQA have published reports following inspections in six national hospitals.
Letterkenny University Hospital was included among the hospitals inspected.
The inspection in Letterkenny was carried out on the 7th and 8th of November 2023, and the hospital was found to be compliant in 11 national standards assessed.
Highlights included the hospital being substantially compliant in areas such as governance, monitoring arrangements, complaints being respondeded to appropriately and the delivery of safe, quality care.
The hospital had formalised corporate and clinical governance arrangements with defined management arrangements in place to manage and oversee delivery of care at the hospital.
Hospital management implemented a range of measures on a daily basis to improve patient flow through the hospital and into the community. However, on the day of inspection these arrangements were not effective in the ED.
The issue of overcrowding was also noted, as patients were accommodated on corridors of wards where their dignity, privacy and confidentially were compromised.
The report concluded by stating that LUH was still reliant on support from other facilities in the Saolta Hospital group, and that the impact of this support will only be fully measurable when the hospital management is functioning effectively, and the planned changes are embedded.
