More support for A&E

More support for A&E

19 March 2014

AROUND 300 people attended a public meeting in Ballynahinch last week to demand the return of 24-hour A&E services to the Downe Hospital.

The meeting at the town’s Baptist Church was the second in a series being held across the district and was addressed by young people, politicians, trade union officials, representatives from sports clubs, relatives of loved ones who have used the Downe Hospital, concerned members of the public and local clergy.

Last Tuesday night’s meeting — which lasted almost two and a half hours — heard a number of impassioned pleas for the return of 24-hour accident and emergency services to the Downpatrick hospital.

At the start of the year, the South Eastern Trust axed weekend A&E provision at the Downe and Lagan Valley hospitals, blaming the move on a shortage of middle grade doctors.

A weekend minor injuries service was launched at the Downe at the start of the month with Trust officials confirming the new service is designed to “mitigate” the impact of the A&E department closure.

Last Tuesday night, various speakers pledged support for the Downe, praising doctors and all nursing and ancillary staff. A number of speakers also suggested a minor injuries unit is not what they want nor what people campaigned for during a high profile battle over many years to secure a new hospital in Downpatrick.

Those in attendance committed themselves to fight for the defence of existing services at the Downe and the return of 24-hour A&E provision to meet the clinical needs of the people of the district.

Mr. Cecil Maxwell, who helped launch the Down Community Health Committee in the 1980s to fight for the retention of lifesaving services at the Downe and spearhead the campaign for a new building in Downpatrick, said he was “gravely disappointed” that various services promised in the new hospital have nearly all gone.

Mr. Maxwell said during the campaign to retain lifesaving services at the Downe, support was secured from eminent cardiologist, Professor Jennifer Adgey, who worked at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital at the time.

“I well remember Jennifer Adgey addressing the former Eastern Health Board, emphasising the vital need for accident and emergency services at the Downe. This situation hasn’t changed and it’s a service we need,” declared Mr. Maxwell.

“Professor Adgey’s words are as relevant today as they were 20 years ago. She made clear the distance local people would have to travel to Belfast for treatment meant it was essential they had access to a local hospital providing lifesaving services, otherwise they would not have made it.”

Mr. Maxwell said many thought when 30,000 people took to the streets of Downpatrick nearly three decades ago — a protest which paved the way for lifesaving services being retained at the Downe and a new hospital eventually being built — “that everything would be okay.”

He added: “I am sorry that we are now having to fight a new campaign and find it really difficult to understand how the Department of Health is being run. It’s time its management was examined. To everyone here tonight and to people across the district the message is a simple one. We must continue the fight. We want the hospital we campaigned for.”

Mr. Eamonn McGrady, who succeeded Mr. Maxwell as the chairman of the community health committee, expressed his thanks to the organisers of last week’s meeting and the “tremendous turnout” from the people of the Ballynahinch area.

“People have displayed their absolute passion and commitment for the Downe and Lagan Valley hospitals and the NHS. There is a clear commitment evident here, just as there was at a public meeting in Downpatrick recently, that people are prepared to take action to fight for local hospital services and to fight for the health services that we need,” he continued.

Mr. McGrady added: “We all have our own personal stories about the health service and I thank people for sharing some of theirs tonight. You don’t need the health service every day of your life, but when you do need it or your family needs it, you need to know that it’s there for you.”

The chairman said he was delighted to be part of a campaign where “ordinary people were doing extraordinary things for an extraordinarily important cause.”