The Southern Health and Social Care Trust after waiting for over a year, reluctantly, has decided to go to Public Consultation, (because they have to), to get the people’s agreement to remove timely life saving Emergency Surgery, and its specialist clinical staff from Newry City’s Specialist Acute Hospital, Daisy Hill. This is because the Trust only want to provide Emergency Surgery in Craigavon Hospital.
WHY REPLYING TO THIS CONSULTATION IS IMPORTANT
Please write down a resounding NO to ALL the Questions in the Southern Trust Emergency Surgery Consultation Questionnaire for the following reasons:
Daisy Hill in Newry City is the ONLY designated Acute Hospital providing access to TIMELY life saving Emergency Surgery and Emergency Medical Care for the population of the 2 constituencies of Newry/Armagh and South Down. Population 235,877 with 60,327 under 18’s (NISRA 2020).
Because of the large Population it serves and large land mass size, Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry was designated, after a Department of Health NI Regional Consultation, as one of a Network of only nine Acute Hospitals in NI. All of these nine hospitals EDs are vital to ensure timely access to 24/7 Emergency Surgical and Emergency Medical Services WITHIN ONE HOUR, to the entire population of NI no matter where they choose to live.
However, the Southern Trust now want to break up the Regional Network of time reliant Emergency Surgery and Emergency Medical Services without Public consultation (until now). They are proposng to permanently remove access to this timely life saving Service -Emergency Surgery from the Newry & Mourne population at Daisy Hill Hospital.
Their Actions to date (without Consultation) show that the Southern Trust are only prepared to provide Emergency Surgery Services in one place – Craigavon, (initially in March 2020 for six months) and are again still refusing to provide timely Emergency Surgery in Newry City since February 2022.
The Southern Trust plan to remove Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Acute Hospital PERMANENTLY is contrary to Change or Withdrawal of Services or Equality, Rural Needs, Human Rights, or Disability legislation.
They are using as evidence a Regional Review on General Surgery, which is only advice and recommendations given to the former Minister for Health Robin Swann MLA which also did not even go to Regional Public Consultation.
Daisy Hill acute Hospital ED, Newry is not just a ‘local’ ED – it serves a wide surrounding area. Daisy Hill Hospital Pathfinder indentified only 75% of DHH ED attendances were from Newry & Mourne: 6.6% were from Armagh: 10% from Banbridge: Down 4%,: 0.6% Craigavon : ROI 1.2% and other 2.4%.
The people of Newry & Mourne and surrounding areas and all across Northern Ireland need Daisy Hill as a Specialist Acute Hospital and need to keep Emergency Surgery there to save lives.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
How to take part in the Consultation
Replies to the Southern Trust Emergency Surgery Consultation have to be in by Friday 21 April 2023.
If you want to help stop the permanent removal of Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Acute Hospital in Newry, you can take part in the Southern Trust’s Public Consultation through their Online Questionnaire – to help, please say NO at the link below.
Fill in your name and email address and then Answer NO to all the other Questions. Add extra comments if you wish. Then hit Submit:
For some Background Info This is A Summary of the Questions in the online Questionnaire
Question 1 – 4 Personal Info (Fill in name, email address etc..)
Question 5. Do you agree with the reasons for change outlined in the document? Select No
Question 7. Do you agree with proposal to provide Emergency General Surgery Services on the Craigavon Area Hospital site 24 hours per day 7 days per week? Select No
Question 9 An Equality Impact Assessment is available on the Trust website. Do you agree with the outcome of this assessment? Select No
Question 11. A Rural Needs Impact Assessment is available on the Trust website. Do you agree with the outcome of this assessment? Select No
Please help to retain our Specialist services in Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry for future generations’ lives and to keep jobs in Newry & Mourne.
Please share this with your friends and loved ones who are away from home, because this affects extended family and all visitors too.
Please ask them if they will send in a Consultation reply too, saying ‘No’ to the Qs to stop the permanent removal of Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry before the Consultation Closes on Friday 21st April 2023.
Thank you. For background info – you may be interested in the following post too:
Daisy Hill Hospital for Life 