The Southern Trust needs to act at once to provide 2 CT Scanners as part of the VITAL diagnostic imaging services in Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry city to meet their statutory duty of care and honour the promises they made in official statements (during the 2014 Stroke Consultation).
It is imperative that a NEW permanent replacement CT scanner and a second NEW CT scanner get Commissioner Approval and are installed AT ONCE in Daisy Hill Acute Hospital to give access to life saving DIAGNOSTIC treatment to save the lives of stroke and heart patients and for other medical emergencies.
IMAGING REVIEW
The Imaging Review Consultation stated the need FOR TWO CT scanners in 24/7 Emergency Departments to ensure resilience when one scanner breaks down so that another one is readily available – when patients URGENTLY need a CT scan.
Every second counts in getting a CT scan to save patients lives and give better outcomes for stroke and heart and other critical medical conditions.
CT SCANNING NEEDED TO CONFIRM TYPE OF STROKE – whether bleed or clot.

Major research into the Stroke pathway confirms the importance of diagnostic CT scanning to eliminate brain bleed for suitability for thrombolysis.
The Southern Trust needs to use the same urgent priority planning to address the needs for provision of imaging services for the Newry & Mourne population (the largest locality population in the Southern Trust), as well as addressing the needs of the Craigavon population, which has only the second largest Locality population in the Southern Trust.
In Craigavon, as the Trust Delivery Plan shows, advanced plans are already in place, with Commissioner Approval, for 2 NEW CT scanners, a new twin CT screening room and 1 more NEW MRI scanner. (Two NEW MRI scanners were already installed in Craigavon Hospital in 2014 and 2015).
REFRESH SOUTHERN TRUST IMAGING PLANS
The promises made in a series of official statements, three of which are detailed below, cannot be honoured by the Southern Trust without the provision of continuous CT scanning facilities in Daisy Hill ED, Newry City.
These promises can only be kept if the Southern Trust plan well in advance for replacement CT scanners so that the 7 year Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) recommended replacement timescale for functional life of a CT scanner is adhered to in Daisy Hill, in the same urgent manner as imaging services are planned for in Craigavon Hospital.
The Southern Trust’s IMAGING Plans must be refreshed to change the designated “non priority” for replacement of Daisy Hill’s existing CT scanner to “CAPITAL PRIORITY” and for a second new CT Scanner also as a “Capital Priority.”
The following promises were made by Southern Trust Personnel in Documents as listed below:
>STATEMENT 1:
‘STROKE CARE PROMISE’ (Newry Reporter: 27/08/2014)
“Emergency Treatment (for Stroke) will always be around the clock. If a clot busting drug is required, ….we aim to deliver a door to needle time of 60 minutes INCLUDING A CT SCAN PROVIDED AT BOTH HOSPITALS.”
(Southern Trust Director of Acute Services, Newry Reporter: 27 Aug 2014, Front page p 1, p 4)
>STATEMENT 2:
“Patients who have suffered a stroke will always get IMMEDIATE DIAGNOSIS and emergency treatment, including thrombolysis AT BOTH of our Emergency Departments in Daisy Hill Hospital and Craigavon Area Hospital. This will ensure we can continue to achieve a ‘door to needle’ time of 60 minutes for thrombolysis.”
(Southern Trust Stroke Consultation Document, p.14, June 2014)
>STATEMENT 3:
“People with symptoms of stroke are always taken first to the Emergency Department in either Daisy Hill Hospital or Craigavon Area Hospital for ASSESSMENT and treatment and our proposals would NOT change this”.
(Chief Executive of the Southern Health Trust, Launch of the Stroke Consultation, Southern Trust Press release 19/06/2014.)
CALL FOR ACTION FROM SOUTHERN TRUST NOW
A NEW permanent replacement CT scanner and a second NEW CT scanner must now be a CAPITAL PRIORITY, get Commissioner Approval, and be installed immediately in Daisy Hill Acute Hospital to give access to life saving DIAGNOSTIC treatment to save the lives of stroke and heart patients and for other medical emergencies.

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Can you please help ensure that Daisy Hill Acute Hospital is included in the Department of Health’s Investment Plan for vital diagnostic equipment like MRI and CT scanners by sending in an EMAIL to the latest consultation, due in Mon 22 Jan by 5pm?



















