NEWRY CITY’S ACUTE HOSPITAL DAISY HILL IS ENTITLED TO ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE NI TYPE 1 ACUTE HOSPITAL REGIONAL NETWORK

Daisy Hill Acute Hospital in Newry is one of Ten designated Acute Hospitals all of Equal importance in the Regional Type 1 ED Network of Northern Ireland to create a seamless web of care.

DAISY HILL ACUTE HOSPITAL, NEWRY CITY IS ENTITLED TO ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE DESIGNATED NI NETWORK OF ACUTE HOSPITALS WITH 24/7 EMERGENCY SURGICAL AND MEDICAL CARE.

The Southern Trust are proposing yet again to withdraw Emergency Surgery Services from Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry City, without adhering to any procedures that every other Health Trust has to follow, such as public consultation, Department of Health “Change or Withdrawal of Services.” Guidelines, Equality Impact Assessment, Rural Needs Act, Fair Treatment and Employment Legislation or NICE Clinical recommendations.

The Southern Trust needs to recognise that Daisy Hill Acute Hospital is not a support hospital for Craigavon. Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry City has been given the right to be a fully functioning Acute Hospital, with 24/7 Emergency Surgical and Medical Care Services.  It has a right to its place in the Regional Network of Emergency Care provision across NI since 2003.

It was a Department of Health decision to include Daisy Hill as a vital part of the Regional Network of Acute Hospitals with 24/7 A & E Services. In 2003 the Health Minister made an announcement that following Consultation, 8,000 reports, letters, postcards and e-mails as well as petitions bearing some 40,000 signatures that a Network of ten Acute Hospitals with 24/7 Emergency Departments with Accommodation, Emergency Surgery and Emergency Medical Care was the only way to ensure timely access to Acute Hospital Services and 24/7 Care for the entire population, no matter where they lived in NI.

The accompanying map shows Daisy Hill’s Geographic location in the designated DoH’s Network of Acute Hospitals. The ten Acute Hospitals of equal importance, each of which has a Type 1 Emergency Department covering both Urban and Rural geographic areas across NI are : Daisy Hill,  Royal Victoria; Royal Belfast Children’s; Mater; Antrim; Ulster, Causeway; Craigavon; Altnagelvin and South West.

Under Human Rights Act and “Right to Life” No Health Trust or Department has the right to withdraw  immediate LIFE SAVING SERVICES from one geographical area of Northern Ireland , especially  since  the Department of Health had decided already that it is essential to provide Emergency services in Daisy Hill, Newry location to SAVE lives.

Equality Laws and the Rural Needs Act are among the Statutory Rules put in place by the Government Departments responsible to protect the public, so that decisions made on public Health service provision are fair and equitable to all.

Action needs to be taken now by the Department of Health to protect the Services in the Regional Network of Acute Hospitals and all their Type 1 Emergency Departments across NI, before it’s too late.

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.

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