No return of 24-hour Downe A&E

No return of 24-hour Downe A&E

18 May 2022

TWENTY-FOUR hour emergency services will not be returning to the Downe Hospital.

The news was confirmed by the district’s most senior health chief when she met with hospital campaigners in Downpatrick last week.

South Eastern Trust chief executive Roisin Coulter said that while she was “fully committed” to the hospital and would continue to work to improve and expand the range of services it provides, it was not safe or appropriate to provide 24-hour emergency services.

Addressing the Down Community Health Committee, Ms Coulter said she wanted to be “clear and honest” about what was and wasn’t possible at the hospital and what services the health trust felt were safe or unsafe.

She said while she respected everyone’s views and the role played by the health committee in helping deliver the new hospital which opened in 2009, it could not provide a 24-hour emergency department within the Downe because it was not “safe, appropriate or feasible”.

She continued: “We have been saying that for some time. There hasn’t been a 24-hour consultant-led emergency department in the Downe since 2011. It is not appropriate or safe to provide a 24/7 emergency department at the Downe; it just isn’t anymore because of all of the advances in clinical practice.

“I want to go forward being open and genuine about what is possible [in the hospital] and let’s push for that and what’s safe and appropriate and provide the best access to people in the rural area.”

Ms Coulter said the Downe’s new urgent care centre has reduced the need for second ambulance journeys for patients who need to be treated elsewhere, insisting that the health trust’s primary aim is to deliver a safe and sustainable service.

She said the organisation is confident that a model of care which is safe, sustainable and appropriately meets the needs of residents can be developed in partnership with the community and in line with the regional review of urgent and emergency care which is currently out for public consultation.

During last week’s meeting Ms Coulter confirmed that the current urgent and emergency care service provided at the hospital was introduced in October 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic strengthened its grip.

Ms Coulter said staff felt the centre — which is open from 8am to 6pm from Monday to Friday — was contacted by around 2,000 people last month and provided an appropriate, safe service. She said the number of people making contact was similar before the onset of Covid when the hospital’s emergency department was open.

She also confirmed that there will be public consultation on the urgent care service provided locally, insisting that it is still able to treat the same number of patients as the former emergency department, with around 85 people daily using the telephone first service and offered an appointment on the same day, if appropriate.

“We waited until after the election to go out to public consultation on the urgent care centre and we will ensure that there is early engagement. We need to be clear and honest about what is possible and what is not at the Downe Hospital and what we feel is safe and is not safe,” the chief executive continued.

“The Downe Hospital is here to stay and we want to continue to develop and modernise services. It has a bright future which the South Eastern Trust is fully committed to.”

Ms Coulter said the health trust was committed to working with hospital campaigners to “plan, influence and shape sustainable services” throughout the Down area for the local population into the future.

She added: “The Trust is extremely proud of the services being delivered from the Downe Hospital and the critical role it plays in delivering regional services, including cataract services. There are also further opportunities to host more services and to play a key role in the reduction of waiting lists, should additional funding for services be received.”

Mr David Robinson, the health trust’s director of hospital services, said a range of services was provided in Downpatrick and that safety was important.

“We must assure ourselves first and foremost that we are listening to the doctors and nurses who work there and take our counsel from them because they are there, day in, day out.

“What they reiterate to us daily is that services have to be safe and we can’t deliver all services in each of our hospitals and we simply can’t cover off every single emergency. For that reason we do not have every service behind the front door as there is only some conditions we can treat safely,” he said.

Senior health officials told campaigners last week that having a range of specialist services behind the door of every small emergency department is not just not affordable or possible.