Louth people protest calling for greater capacity at Drogheda Hospital

A protest was held outside Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda on Saturday as part of a nationwide campaign of demonstrations across 18 hospitals around the country.

Campaigners were calling for the government to increase capacity in Emergency Departments as well as committing to investing in more doctors, nurses and consultants.

Locally the issue of hospital capacity has come under renewed focus as Drogheda Hospital, like many around the country, deal with patients waiting on trolleys amid a winter flu surge.

The hospital has still been dealing with an ambulance bypass protocol which has seen critically ill and unstable patients from Meath bypassing Navan Hospital and being brought to Drogheda.

Back in December seventeen consultants at Drogheda Hospital wrote to the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly warning that

"patients may die" if the protocol went ahead, due to a lack of resources at the hospital and highlighted staffing shortfalls claiming that there was a deficit in medical staffing of 16 doctors.

Spokesperson for the Safeguard Drogheda A&E campaign group Michael O’Dowd said the situation was “no longer tolerable.”

“We are calling for a complete review of the HSE policy of reducing A&E capacity in our hospitals. We are calling for all hospitals to be resourced to provide much needed capacity.

“We are demanding reform of the HSE from the top down. We seek funding to be focused at front line services and not layers of management. We are calling on fair pay, terms and working conditions to be provided to Staff now.

“We want adequate provisions of GPs for primary care and step down and home care facilities to help patients leave hospital when treatment is complete.”

In the Dail last week Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick said the reopening of Louth County Hospital in Dundalk should be seriously considered to alleviate capacity pressures in Drogheda and elsewhere.

Deputy Fitzpatrick said that when he had previously raised the issue of overcrowding in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda the Minister for Health agreed that the required resources have not been in place for a long time.

The Dundalk TD said that despite the Minister’s promises to address the issue, the hospital is currently dealing with a deficit in medical staffing and has insufficient capacity.

“On top of this, the decision to close the accident and emergency department in Navan will have a significant knock-on effect on Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which is of huge concern.

“The plan to downgrade and close Navan accident and emergency department needs to be abandoned and funding needs to be allocated to the acute services in counties Louth and Meath.

“The reopening of Louth County Hospital in Dundalk should be seriously considered.

“There is infrastructure and capacity available immediately there, and this would alleviate pressure at a time of a capacity crisis. I always come to the House with solutions and now is the right time to reopen services at Louth County Hospital.”

Also speaking in the Dail last week Louth TD Imelda Munster outlined the strain put on Drogheda Hospital in the last few months.

“At the start of December, 11 ambulances were parked outside my local hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.

“The patients could not be taken out of the ambulances. They had to sit inside them as the ambulances could not go anywhere because there were no beds or trolleys.

“It is 2023 in a First World country. It is nothing short of outrageous. That overcrowding will get much worse if the Government continues to ignore the health professionals in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and moves all the acute emergency cases from Our Lady's Hospital in Navan to Drogheda.”