THE chief executive of the South Eastern Trust has told the council that there are no plans to reopen a 24/7 emergency department (ED) at the Downe Hospital.
Roisin Coulter addressed the issue during a presentation she made to a special health-focused meeting of the local authority on Monday.
Speaking in the chamber, she referenced her awareness of the possibility of a future community petition calling for “the opening of a 24/7 ED at the Downe Hospital”.
“I think it is very important – in terms of, for me, being genuine, being open and honest – that the ED in the Downe Hospital has not been open since September 2010, some 14 years ago,” she said.
“We are on record in saying that there would be no plans to reopen the 24/7 ED in the Downe Hospital, and that will not be possible, because it is totally at odds with the recommendations in the Bengoa Report.
“It would also not fit in with the health minister’s (Mike Nesbitt) recently launched reconfiguration of the hospital network in Northern Ireland, setting out a model that actually is identical to the model that we have in the South Eastern Trust – with one major area acute hospital at the Ulster Hospital, supported by local hospitals, which we have got already in the Lagan Valley and the Downe.”
Ms Coulter added that there are “very successful consultant-led urgent care centres in both Lagan Valley and Downe”, and that this model is “safe for patients, clinically appropriate and sustainable”.
“I do think it is important for us to be honest with the public, in that I don’t feel it is fair or appropriate to suggest people sign a petition for something that is never actually possible to deliver, and, again, I just think that is important to hear,” she stated.
Dr Andrew Dobbin, the Trust’s clinical director of Emergency Medicine, also spoke in relation to the subject.
“An ED is the front door of a hospital, and it should have the expertise and the capability of dealing with life-threatening injury and illness without prior appointment, and, unfortunately, that is just something that cannot be delivered on the Downe site,” he said.
“Behind the ED, there is a minimum number of services that need to be in place that have never existed there – acute surgery, acute medicine, acute paediatrics, gynaecology, anaesthetics, critical care and rapid turnaround labs.
“All things that we are unable to deliver.
“Having a front door that can do lots of things but nothing behind it adds to a patient risk.”
Dr Dobbin also referred to the idea that having an ED on-site would “get people admitted locally”, but pointed out to councillors that “the Downe Hospital site isn’t sitting with empty beds”.
“The beds are all being utilised,” he stressed.
“In fact, the Downe has opened significant additional beds to help with the pressures across the system.
“So, having the front door open as a walk-in service ED, for many reasons, isn’t going to be achieved or isn’t going to be deliverable, and I would appreciate your candour and support in spreading that to locals.”
Adding to this, Ms Coulter said that the Trust is “absolutely so proud of all of the services and the staff who work in the Downe Hospital”.
“The Downe Hospital is fully occupied,” she concluded.
“We have got a fantastic range of services, and we will continue to look for other opportunities to develop and introduce new services.”
