Tag Archives: Emergency Waiting Times NI

02.20.22
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TIME TO ADDRESS EQUALITY – SOUTHERN TRUST MUST ADDRESS SECTION 75 DUTIES – DURING THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, NOT AFTERWARDS.

Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry City –the Acute Area Hospital for Newry & Mourne, South Armagh
Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry City – the Acute Area Hospital for Newry &Mourne, South Armagh

It appears that the Southern Trust have decided, against the wishes of the people who have paid for the service, to remove Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry City from 28th February 2022, leaving the population abandoned without any nearby alternative to provide life saving Emergency Surgery.

This highly controversial decision has been made by the Southern Trust without any Public Consultation, or  Equality Impact Assessment showing they had not given due regard  to their duties under Section 75 of the 1998 NI Act.

These Section 75 duties have to be addressed DURING the decision-making process, NOT AFTERWARDS. The Equality Commission in NI gives clear guidance to Public Authorities on their duties under Section 75 NI 1998 Act.

The Southern Trust are required under Section 75 of the 1998 NI Act to address the impact their decision to remove Emergency Surgery will have on people of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status, sexual orientation, men and women generally, people who are disabled and those who are not and people who have dependants and those without in the Newry, Mourne South Down and South Armagh Area.

The three good relations categories are: people of different religious belief; political opinion and racial group.

It is a fundamental right of everyone who is in need of Immediate life saving Emergency Surgical Care to be seen immediately as at present in all of the ten Emergency Departments in NI no matter where they are located within NI.

Just as in the Western Trust (with a total population of 301,448*) there is need for TWO Specialist Acute Stroke Units - so too, the Southern Trust (with a larger population of 380,312*) is also entitled to TWO Specialist Stroke Units (HASUs and Acute Stroke Units), at Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry and Craigavon Hospital. This would ensure that everyone in the Southern Trust has immediate access to CT scanning and life saving thrombolysis, followed by direct access into a stroke unit.
Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry City is the longest established major acute hospital in the Southern Trust 

The people of Newry & Mourne (which includes South Down and South Armagh) continue to pay extensively through Rates and Taxes including National Insurance contributions to ensure they have a fully functioning Acute Hospital with a 24/7 Type 1 Emergency Surgery and Emergency Medical Department, to look after their population should they need it when they are at their most sick and vulnerable at the Newry & Mourne, South Armagh Area Hospital at Daisy Hill.

Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry City is the longest established major acute hospital in the Southern Trust – We have a right to have our say through meaningful Public Consultation and be shown Equality Impact Assessments when any service the Southern Trust must provide is being taken away. We have prepaid for our Life Saving Emergency services and are entitled to Value for Money the same as everyone else in NI.

This is not up for negotiation.

Newry & Mourne has always had the largest population in the operational area of the Southern Trust with a population of 106,813 including 28,116 aged Under 18. (NISRA 2020).

Newry City must have a fully functioning Major Acute Hospital which includes Consultant Led Type 1 ED with Emergency Surgery like all of the Acute Hospital Type 1 Regional Network EDs in NI.

KEYFACTS

Daisy Hill Acute Hospital is located in Newry, Gateway City to NI, where (in Jan to Dec 2021) 51,668 men, women and children needed Emergency Surgical and/or Emergency Medical Care.

In the year April 2018 to March 2019 (before the Southern Trust closed DHH ED at the start of Covid) over 2,200 patients were admitted to Daisy Hill acute Hospital for non-elective surgery through the Emergency Department.

This is a clear indication of the need for this vital life saving service

Section 75 duties have to be addressed DURING the decision-making process, NOT AFTERWARDS. The Equality Commission in NI gives clear guidance to Public Authorities on their duties under Section 75 NI 1998 Act.
Section 75 Duties must be addressed by Public Authorities
Section 75 duties must be addressed DURING the decision-making process, NOT AFTERWARDS. The Equality Commission in NI gives clear guidance to Public Authorities on their duties under Section 75 NI 1998 Act.

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.

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© Daisy Hill for Life on Facebook and http://www.savedaisyhillhospital.com, 2015 – 2023. 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.

02.15.22
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WAITING TIMES IN EDs ACROSS N.I. SHOW CENTRALISATION OF EMERGENCY SURGERY FROM DAISY HILL HOSPITAL, NEWRY CITY TO CRAIGAVON IS NOT A SAFE OR VIABLE OPTION

N. Ireland Acute Hospital Emergency Dept Waiting Times 2021


The Southern Trust’s proposal to centralise Emergency Surgery from Daisy Hill Hospital Type 1 Emergency Department, Newry City, expecting patients needing immediate life saving emergency surgery to go to Craigavon, is not a viable or safe alternative.

As the accompanying ED Attendances Waiting Times Table shows: in the year Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 Craigavon ED had 11,009 patients who had to wait over 12 hours to be seen, discharged or admitted to hospital.

Dr Paul Kerr, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Northern Ireland on a BBC programme on 12 Feb 2022 speaking about long delays and long waits in Emergency Departments in NI in December 2021 said:

“The situation in Emergency Departments in Northern Ireland is dire, the data show that it is very bad indeed. The reality is that patient care is now regularly being compromised, their safety is at risk.
“We know that delays and long-waits in Emergency Departments are closely associated with patient harm and poor outcomes. The Royal College’s report ‘Crowding and its Consequences’ found that one in 67 patients waiting for 12 hours or more are associated with avoidable harm or potential death within 30 days.”

Southern Trust - highest number on Urgent Waiting list for CT scan in 2017-18, in all NI Health Trusts

It is because nobody knows who is going to need Emergency Surgery or Emergency Medical Care that the Regional Network of Type 1 EDs (in the accompanying Table) were designated IN ALL 10 Acute Hospitals in a FAIR GEOGRAPHICAL provision of Emergency Surgical and Emergency Care across NI.

Centralisation of Emergency surgery from Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry City to Craigavon is not a safe or viable option.

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.

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 – 2023

© Daisy Hill for Life on Facebook and http://www.savedaisyhillhospital.com, 2015 – 2023. We welcome sharing of this info and the use of excerpts and links, provided that full and clear credit is given to http://www.savedaisyhillhospital.com and Daisy Hill for Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank-you.