Newry Mourne and Down District Council recently announced a motion against the Permanent Secretary’s decision to permanently remove Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Hospital and are calling for the new Health Minister to reinstate Emergency Surgery at Daisy Hill Acute Hospital immediately. (Link at end)

It is good to see this action from Newry Mourne and Down Councillors on this vitally important issue, whose job it is to speak and act for the people in their areas. The estimated population of Newry, Mourne and Down Council for 2023/24 is 185,808 adults and children (NISRA). Newry Mourne and Down has the third biggest Council population in NI, with the third largest land mass area.

The removal of Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry is a very serious withdrawal of a core timely life-saving Regional Emergency service from an Acute Hospital.

Centralisation of this kind also has a serious impact on all other Health Trusts especially the Ambulance Trust.

The Southern Trust does not have the authority to remove Regional Services.

This decision to permanently remove Emergency Surgery from an Acute Hospital can only be taken after a Regional Public Consultation and after approval by a Health Minister.

Just like the changes to Stroke Services and all other Regional Services which affect the whole population, before there are any permanent changes to Emergency Surgery Services at Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry, the following will be required:

1. A proper Population Needs Assessment using official data from NISRA
and
2. An open and accessible Regional Public Consultation on Emergency Surgery provision.

As Health Minister, Mr Robin Swann MLA will be aware of the importance of all factors in Regional health service decision making and will wish to ensure that there is no geographic disparity (inequality) in the core acute hospital services provided across the region.

He will also be aware of the need to match other core values for the Programme of Government including Good Relations, Rural Needs and Climate Change Regulations.

Health Minister Robin Swann MLA will be aware of all these factors and the decision now rests with him.

Daisy Hill hospital is the heart of the community – and needs to remain as an Acute Hospital, the people have paid for it to be there when they need it in an emergency.

Background Links
https://www.newrymournedown.org/council-meeting-minutes

Information on this and other similar topics is also available at the companion Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/daisyhillforlife/ Please Follow or Like the Page to receive updates. Thank you.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

© Daisy Hill for Life on Facebook and http://www.savedaisyhillhospital.com, 2015 – 2024

We welcome sharing of this info and the use of excerpts and links, please give full and clear credit to http://www.savedaisyhillhospital.com and Daisy Hill for Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank-you.