A Sligo Deputy has described as completely unacceptable the turning away of a 17-year-old young person, who had severed part of his finger in an accident, from Galway University Hospital (GUH) because overnight emergency surgery was not available and, crucially, because there were no trolleys available.

Outlining the case in the Dail Marian Harkin explained how, after the accident, the young person was brought to NOWDOC in Carrick-on-Shannon, which was closed. “A sibling drove him to Sligo University Hospital where the hand was bandaged, the severed piece of the finger was put into ice, and they were told to go to Galway University Hospital for treatment. So, they arrived at GUH at about 9:00 o'clock that night having already driven 145km.

“At the Emergency Department they were told there was no one available to treat the child until 7am the next morning and there were no trolleys available. He was in excruciating pain and was told that he could either go home and return at 7am the next morning, or he could get a B&B. The family had to drive back to Carrick-on-Shannon and, as his dad said, “We were on our way home, none the wiser. The lad had half a finger with him, and the other half left in the fridge in Galway hospital.”

“They drove to Carrick-on-Shannon, back to Galway in the morning and home later that day, covering in total almost 500km,” Deputy Harkin continued, “nobody should be told take a B&B or take a round trip of nearly 250km to wait for treatment, but to say that to a child is completely and totally unacceptable and is calling on the Minister for Health to ensure that this practice will not be repeated.

Deputy Harkin has been giving more details to Midwest News.