Former Irish boxing champion has operation in Galway - after seven failed attempts in Letterkenny

A Donegal man drove to University Hospital Galway and underwent a procedure a day later - after seven visits to Letterkenny University Hospital, including one that involved a 20-hour sit in a wheelchair, failed to make headway.

Eamonn Coyle, who lives in Raphoe, told his story at a public meeting at the Mount Errigal Hotel, which was organised by the Letterkenny Hospital Campaign Group on Thursday night.

Mr Coyle - a former boxer who was the Irish super-heavyweight champion in 1982 - spoke about his lengthy waits and frustrating experiences when he presented seven times to LUH in the last 13 months.

Last November, Eamonn and his wife, Theresa, sat for 12 hours in the emergency department at LUH. When he was eventually admitted, he was allocated a bed on the corridor of Surgical 2 and it was a further night and day later before he was admitted to a ward.

“Some people spent such long hours in the emergency department there,” Mr Coyle said. “I know of one lady who spent 33 hours sitting in a wheelchair and another man, who had chest pains, spent 10 hours laying on the floor of the emergency department.”

Mr Coyle had nothing but praise for the nursing staff he encountered at LUH.

“The nurses were very attentive to me,” he said.

However, he was exasperated by his attempts to be properly attended to by medics.

“During one time when I was admitted, I was four-and-a-half hours in an ambulance and a further 20 hours sitting on a wheelchair,” he recalled. “During one of those episodes, at 3 o’clock in the morning a person decoded to give two nurses verbal abuse.

“A supervisor came in and asked the person to move on. At 11am I went for a CT scan and when I came back the person who delivered that verbal abuse was in a queue.”

Three weeks ago, Eamonn and Theresa left Raphoe at 6am and drove the 160 mile journey to Galway.

“In half-an-hour, I was called in - and they were very busy at the time,” he said. “Within another hour, I was in getting blood tests and having a scan done. The next day at 1pm, I was going to theatre.”