Completed Answers to the three Questions asked about the Department of Health Draft Budget 2025-26 Equality Impact Assessment. (shorter version)

Q4. a. Are there any adverse impacts in relation to any of the Section 75 equality groups that have not been identified in section 5 of the EQIA Consultation document? If so, what are they?

Yes there are harmful impacts that have not been identified. The ‘critical spend’  to build a new ‘Newry Community Treatment Centre’ will allow the removal of more ‘acute services’ which are being stripped and transferred from Newry’s Acute Hospital at Daisy Hill. As the  Southern Trust Delivery Plan 2018/19, p97 states:  *“The Trust is continuing to progress plans for a Health and Care centre in Newry which will support the shift of Acute services primarily from Daisy Hill Hospital to a community facility.”

All Equality groups in the large population of Newry & Mourne will be denied timely access to acute hospital inpatient services they need (previously provided in Daisy Hill Hospital). This will mean they will be further disadvantaged as they will unacceptably have to travel all the way to Craigavon to access vital hospital inpatient acute services (including in an emergency). This will cost them extra money, and make it more difficult for them to access a necessary public service, for which funding had been allocated for them.

b. Please state what action you think could be taken to reduce or eliminate any adverse impacts in allocation of the Department’s draft budget?

Action 1:  Redirect the proposed funding for (1) ‘Newry Community Treatment Centre’ (c£88.3 million) and (2) ‘additional bed capacity at Craigavon’ and use it instead for extra inpatient acute beds in Daisy Hill Hospital and to provide the first stage of a new major specialist acute Area Hospital building in Newry City.  This new hospital should be secured for the long term future in Newry as an Area Acute Hospital with 24/7 Level 1 ED, ICU and permanent major diagnostic equipment including MRI, CT and non obstetric ultrasound scanning equipment, (essential for retention of specialist clinical staff). 

C:  Are there any other comments you would like to make in regard to this EQIA or the consultation process generally?

When Health Budgets are shared out they are supposed to be allocated fairly but these budget proposals are not based on the needs of all the population in the Southern Trust.  Newry & District has the second highest number of Patients of the 17 GP Registers in NI (c161,308) (DOH 2023) after only Derry and the continued failure of the Southern Trust to provide TIMELY access to specialist hospital inpatient healthcare in Daisy Hill Acute Hospital in Newry can be ignored no longer.

Under the Rural Needs Act it is the duty of the Department to ensure that the social and economic needs of the Newry Mourne and Down area is looked after.  The economic prosperity of rural areas depends on employment opportunities that having a fully functioning specialist Acute Hospital like Daisy Hill brings.   Newry is the gateway to NI and there must be a major acute Area hospital with 24/7 Level 1 ED to provide for road, farm, school, and work accidents etc this must be considered and can’t be ignored.

Shorter Suggested Answers Ends Here                   

Ways to Respond

All responses will be considered as part of the Department of Health funding decisions.

Comments on the Departments 2025-26 Draft Budget Equality Impact Assessment can be submitted by email.

Email: draftbudget25-26response@health-ni.gov.uk

Compose a New Message (or use pen icon)

Put Email Address: draftbudget25-26response@health-ni.gov.uk into the ‘To‘ field of the Email (Recipient) write an Email in the normal way – you can type your comments and copy and paste any of these suggested answers as you wish.

Give your name and ask for a reply.

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Links and Background

CONSULTATION LINK 

Department of Health NI Consultation: Equality Impact and Rural Needs Impact Assessment of the 2025-26 Budget Outcome – all documents available from the link below:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-draft-budget-2025-26

Quick Access to Consultation Docs –

Draft Budget 2025-26 – Equality Impact AssessmentAdobe PDF (1 MB) https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-01/doh-consultation-draft-budget-25-26-equality-impact-assessment.pdf

Draft Budget 2025-26 – Rural Needs Impact AssessmentAdobe PDF https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-01/doh-consultation-draft-budget-25-26-rural-needs-impact-assessment.pdf (617 KB)

Draft Budget 2025-26 Easy Read https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-03/doh-equality-impact-draft-budget-2025-26-easy-read.pdf

Short Suggested Answers (Version 2 ) to download

Background

Population information – NISRA:

More population info from Daisy Hill for life: https://savedaisyhillhospital.com/

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