Beds and surgery cut at Downe Hospital

Beds and surgery cut at Downe Hospital

THE Downe Hospital in Downpatrick is to be hard hit by a series of cutbacks being planned by the South Eastern Health Trust.

The Trust, which needs to save £5m by March, plans to cut nine beds at the Downe, merge the coronary care unit with the remaining medical beds and drastically reduce all elective surgery.

The only surgery carried out at the Downe is elective.

The cuts are being labelled as "temporary" and are part of a wide-ranging cuts programme being rolled out across the Trust.

Other cuts include:

• The closure of six beds at Lagan Valley Hospital.

• The closure of 20 beds at Bangor Community Hospital.

• The closure of Bangor Minor Injuries Unit.

• The postponing of a new nurse-led minor injuries service at Lagan Valley.

• A reduction in domiciliary care places - the Trust will replace only two out of every three car packages.

• There will be no reduction in core staff but the use of agency staff will be cut along with overtime. Rigorous vacancy management will take place.

All cuts will take place by December 1st.

 A Trust statement said the organisation has been in a series of discussions with the Department and Health and Social Care Board and the Trust now has an agreed financial position. 

"In developing contingency plans, patient and client safety was paramount," said the statement. "The Trust focused on areas that could result in reductions in expenditure quickly and where possible, on areas which align to the strategic direction of travel.

"Of paramount importance is the impact of these measures on patients, clients and users of our services.  It is clear that such plans will affect both the quality and access to some of the services provided both in the hospital environment and within community settings. 

"The Trust will endeavour to mitigate the impact of these changes however we cannot prevent impact on certain aspects of service quality.  We do not believe that the measures agreed will leave services unsafe however, it must be highlighted that there is an increased risk which has to be managed."