THE Downe Hospital should be given a greater role in meeting the needs of local people than it is at present, the MP for South Down has said.
Chris Hazzard MP said the Downpatrick hospital has both modern facilities and dedicated staff.
He added that constituents are experiencing “persistent delays” at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.
The MP recently visited the Downe Hospital to meet with staff and to discuss a range of “pressing issues” with Roisin Coulter, the chief executive of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.
“As MP for South Down, the performance of both the Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, and the Downe Hospital in Downpatrick, regularly fills my in-tray; with correspondence from patients, staff, and the wider public increasingly concerned with the growing crisis in our local healthcare system,” Mr Hazzard said.
“In the east Down area, this concern largely focuses on the SEHSCT’s failure to recognise the community’s growing sense of frustration and anger at the reconfiguration of emergency services, and the impact that this has had on our ability to access vital, lifesaving care.
“It is obvious that the reconfiguration of emergency services in the SEHSCT area is giving rise to persistent delays at the Ulster Hospital. Waiting times for patients inside the A&E – and for those stranded outside in an ambulance – are amongst the worst anywhere in Britain or Ireland.”
The MP added that this is “unacceptable”.
“Locally, the Downe Hospital is off-limits to all but a small minority of cases, with doors closed, patients are redirected instead to the Ulster in Belfast.
“Given the worsening situation with ambulances in South Down, the emergency operators are now increasingly directing patients to make their own way to hospital – putting the patient, and public at increased risk.
“This often results in patients self-presenting to the Downe foyer, attempting in their anguish to seek emergency care – and ultimately putting themselves at increased risk by reducing their ambulance response time further as they are turned away.
“This means our local community does not enjoy equal access to health services that other citizens across the north of Ireland take for granted.
“In the absence of a ‘rights-based entitlement framework’ the ongoing transformation of the health and social care system is not meeting the healthcare needs of rural citizens – especially in places like South Down.
“Given the mounting evidence now available to the public this dangerous reality is undeniable, unjustifiable, and unacceptable!
“With modern facilities and dedicated staff on site, the South Eastern Trust should utilise the Downe to help meet the needs of the local community and simultaneously alleviate the growing pressure on the Ulster,” concluded Mr Hazzard.