THE council has called on the Department of Health to reverse its decision to permanently remove emergency general surgery from Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital. On Monday, departmental approval for Southern Trust plans to consolidate all such services at Craigavon Area Hospital was confirmed. However, at the monthly local authority meeting on the same day, councillors unanimously endorsed a proposal to write to Health permanent secretary Peter May to request that this not be progressed. Speaking at the meeting, Killian Feehan (SDLP, Newry) said that he wanted to register his opposition to the decision “in the strongest possible terms”, and highlighted that Mr May had stated in a December letter to council that “the views of local stakeholders will, of course, be taken into consideration” when the decision was made.
He proposed that an urgent meeting of the local authority’s Southern Trust Working Group be convened, and that the Trust’s chief executive, Dr Maria O’Kane, be invited to “explain how and why the very clear and unambiguous position of our community has been so brazenly disregarded in the decision that has been announced by the permanent secretary”. Adding to this, his party colleague Doire Finn (Newry) asked that a letter from council be sent to Mr May “to, firstly, ask when this decision was made, and, secondly, to ask if he can reconsider and defer this decision”. “I think we could be looking potentially, in the next number of weeks, at the re-formation of an Executive and Assembly, and that is where that decision should be taken, if it is to be taken at all,” she said. “Again, like Cllr Feehan, I don’t think it should be. “I would like to propose that this council writes to the permanent secretary to ask that that decision is reversed immediately.” David Taylor (UUP, Slieve Gullion) voiced his “anger and disappointment” at the news, which he said was “due to a lack of long-term strategic planning and investment by the Department of Health and the Southern Trust, in relation to Daisy Hill.” “It does outline the need for an Executive to be in place as well, because, whilst an Executive will never cure all the ills that exist within the Health Service, it certainly will, at least, provide that leadership that is needed to take long-term strategic planning forward,” he said. Geraldine Kearns (Sinn Féin, Newry) stated that the decision was “deeply disappointing, and will cause great concern across all communities served by the hospital”. “Our Health Service is facing huge challenges, due to the lack of resources and understaffing, and this needs to be urgently addressed,” she added. “We need the Executive restored now and all parties working together to invest in our Health Service, to help it deal with the unprecedented challenges it is facing.”
In February 2022, the Southern Trust took the decision to temporarily consolidate all emergency general surgery in Craigavon “in response to a shortage of general surgeons and to maintain safety of the service”, and a consultation on making this permanent was completed last year. In October, the Trust Board recommended that the services be “delivered from Craigavon Area Hospital site on a permanent basis” – this prompted the council to unanimously endorse an emergency notice of motion opposing this – and this was sent to the Department of Health for consideration. Monday’s departmental statement confirmed that it had approved the Trust’s “decision to permanently consolidate emergency general surgery services at Craigavon Area Hospital”. “Emergency general surgery had been split across Craigavon and Daisy Hill Hospital, until a shortage of general surgery consultants led to the temporary suspension of provision at Daisy Hill,” it read. “Today’s decision makes that temporary position permanent. “The department has concluded that the temporary arrangements demonstrated the merits of consolidation on a single site. “It provided stability in clinical staffing, meaning safe services can be sustained in the longer term. “An average of three patients per day have been directed to Craigavon from Daisy Hill for emergency general surgery services. “Assessment of these arrangements has found no indication of any patient coming to harm.”
Mr May said that the approval “reflects the reality that all hospitals cannot provide all services”, and that “there has to be a level of consolidation and specialisation, in light of advances in medicine”. “Daisy Hill Hospital will continue to provide a vital service to the local community, across a range of key specialities,” he stated. “The department’s commitment to Daisy Hill is reflected in the decision to make it an elective overnight stay centre, caring for patients who may require an overnight stay in hospital after planned surgery.” The permanent secretary added that the approval “aligns with the direction of travel set out in the Department of Health’s Review of General Surgery, published in June 2022”. “The inability to recruit and retain consultant general surgeons to Daisy Hill was due to clinical factors, not any lack of effort,” he concluded. “When hospitals have lower patient numbers, this can create significant issues for professionals working in key specialties. “These include rota/on-call pressures, inherent in smaller clinical teams, as well as insufficient case mix to support specialisation, training and skill development.” A Southern Trust statement welcomed the department’s decision to rubberstamp its plans. Trust medical director Dr Stephen Austin said that “meeting the clinical standards to ensure the best outcomes for all patients living across the entire southern area” had been their “absolute priority throughout this process”. “I commend our surgical team, who are constantly working to improve their service, and have developed this new model for emergency general surgery to give patients the safe, high-quality and modern care that they deserve,” he stated. “Delivering emergency general surgery from one site helps us to meet the latest regional standards set out in the Review of General Surgery. “It is also more sustainable, and, with successful recruitment of new surgical consultants in recent months, shows that it will be more attractive in recruiting and retaining staff. “We acknowledge concerns raised, particularly from some living in the Newry, Mourne, South Down and South Armagh areas, about access to the service, and understand that people would value a service closer to home, but we must always prioritise quality of care and patient safety.”
