LUH Saturday pilot saw just five patients over three months

A 12-week pilot programme for Saturday treatments at Letterkenny University Hospital has been recommended for discontinuation.

Consultants who were rostered to work saw only five patients over the 12-week period at the hospital.

The pilot was brought in under new contracts between the State and hospital consultants. The public-only consultant contract was a priority for Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.

The programme was a consultant-led acute medical assessment unit that ran only on Saturdays, and ran from April to June.

A report found that there was “no measurable improvement in emergency department flow, hospital avoidance, admission rates or inpatient length of stay.”

Additionally, the report noted that agency staffing costs increased and availability of consultants throughout the week decreased.

In response, the HSE said the acute medical assessment facility had to consequently be used due to capacity pressures at LUH.

This limited the extent to which the pilot could be run as originally designed, and affected the hospital’s ability to evaluate the new approach during this period,” it said in a statement to The Irish Times.

The report is available to view on The Irish Times website.