Under pressure Altnagelvin ED shows need for public service investment: Boggs
Sustained pressure on Derry’s Altnagelvin Emergency Department (ED) is a prime example of how 'our public services need to be put on a sustainable footing', a local MLA has said.
Sinn Féin’s Paul Boggs said: "The British Secretary of State talks about the Executive being financially irresponsible. I implore him to assess how irresponsible it is for him to leave the Executive in a position where they cannot fund vital public services such as this one.
"With one voice, all Members across the constituencies covered by the Western Trust must advocate for the ED to be upgraded as soon as possible, because people have waited long enough. Patients and their families have waited long enough."
The facility is the oldest Type-1 ED in the North and is now over 40 years old.
Originally intended to cater for 35,000 patients it now treats somewhere in the region of 80,000 patients annually.
The Western Trust put a new A&E forward as a priority capital project in the budget process for 2026/27 to 2029/30 and the Department of Health has acknowledged the need for a new facility.
The new Health Minister Robbie Butler has said the progression of a new A&E in Derry will depend on the Department of Health’s capital allocation from the Budget process.
Speaking in the Assembly this week Mr. Boggs spoke of the plight of both workers and the sick and injured who need to use the ED.
"The situation facing staff and patients alike at Altnagelvin A&E has been raised repeatedly in the Chamber, but we cannot overemphasise just how much we need to see action.
"Each week without fail and almost each day, I am contacted by patients or, more often than not, their families, who do not know where else to turn but to speak to their local elected representative.
"I know that all Members of the Assembly who cover the Western Trust area have the same story to tell, and nearly every message includes a line that I know to be true: 'I know that the staff are doing their best'.
"That could not be any truer, and it is imperative when discussing the issues that we recognise the invaluable role and dedication of the staff, who are doing everything that they can to make patients comfortable and have them treated as soon as possible," he said.
Mr. Boggs said he knew of the case of very sick patients in their 90s waiting for days to be treated.
"I have listened to their loved ones, at times in tears, because they feel helpless to the person whom they love. I know that situation because I too have experienced it with an elderly loved one, and it is not acceptable. I have listened to the staff who are running on empty, burned out and in need of urgent support," he added.
Mr. Boggs welcomed the Minister's comments that a new ED at Altnagelvin will be 'incredibly high on his Department's project list when the Budget becomes available' but insisted progress is essential.