A local councillor is calling for a GP service to be established at Sligo hospital to help alleviate chronic overcrowding at the Emergency Department there.
The hospital has recorded some of the highest levels of overcrowding ever seen there in recent days, and it has consistently bene one of the most overcrowded health facilities nationwide in recent years.
Councillor Marie Casserly says bed capacity is something that obviously needs to be addressed but the building on a new hospital is likely to be several years away.
She says that efforts that can be taken in the interim to resolve the huge delays for people who attend the hospital must be put into practice.
Councillor Casserly told the Let's Talk show today that staff locally have suggested a GP service at the hospital could be a real help in taking some of the pressure off the ED.
'I've spoken with staff who work in A&E, and they are just ran off their feet all the time there.
They continue to be frustrated because there's no end to the amount of people who are presenting all the time.
If there was a GP service on site, this would actually help people who are presenting , and also would help with people who are waiting for hours and hours and hours to be seen.
Sometimes when people go to Accident and Emergency they can be treated by a GP, they can be given a prescription, or else they can be admitted straight to a ward.'
