A campaigner’s letter on Downe

26 November 2014

SIR, — In the 1970s, a local man hailed the removal of The School of Nursing from the Downshire Hospital in Downpatrick as the “beginning of the end.”

That man was my late father — Sean L. Quinn — who said the closure of the nursing school was under the guise of the centralisation of services.

In the 1980s, that same man at a public meeting in Downpatrick said it would be easier for a man to land on the moon, than for a woman to have her baby in Down District. Most of the babies born in this area today have Belfast as their place of birth on their birth certificates.

In the 1990s, my father brought a successful protest to the doors of the Eastern Health Board in Belfast’s Linenhall Street to secure a new hospital in Downpatrick and the retention and enhancement of existing services.

In 1997, my father died before he could realise his dream of a new Downe, delivering a full range of services. One year later, I took up my father’s mantle and was instrumental in a protest march of over 25,000 people. At that stage, I wrote a letter to the Down Recorder urging people not to trust our local health trust.

In the 2000’s, a new-build was secured but as the people’s hospital opened in Downpatrick, its first beds and a ward were withdrawn from service. Then last year, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence became Merry Christmas Mr. McCaughey as the South Eastern Trust chief executive delivered reduced operating hours at the Downe’s accident and emergency department, without warning or consultation.

Last month, I celebrated my birthday, with Mr. McCaughey insisting on giving me the present of the closure of the coronary care ward at the Downe. As this Christmas approaches, there are concerns about the long term future of the GP out-of-hours services at the Downe which is closely linked to our minor injuries unit.

The logic behind the wanton destruction of the Downe is in the name of recouping funds that are outstanding, with £383,000 being saved by the removal of coronary care — a mere in the ocean of the £5m the South Eastern Trust must save before the end of the financial year.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, a few miles from five other hospitals, remains unscathed, while Lisburn’s Lagan Valley, a few miles from six other hospitals, has had minor cuts compared to the major cuts imposed at the Downe.

The reasons for the success of the business plan to secure the new Downe remain the same today as they were when the hospital was constructed; isolation, deprivation, poor infrastructure, high incidences of the need for coronary care and rurality where farming and fishing accidents remain high. Suddenly, a £64m investment becomes redundant or, alternatively, the leased premises for the new Downe Hospital shopping mall, hotel or municipal cemetery.

We have been told the Downe is to become a centre of excellence for care of the elderly and sufferers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Both conditions dictate a requirement and dependency on coronary care which automatically follows these conditions.

If we do not have consultants, we do not have coronary care, we do not have ambulances and we do not have any infrastructure. In God’s name how can we be the centre of excellence for anything?

A previous chief executive of the local health trust said to my father and I in the 1980s that “ultimately, all decisions are political.” We both believed this. Politicos are in the mouth of elections, eager to please voters when they knock on the door next year and again in 2016.

Politics are not practised in this Province of Peace, rather, politicians retreat to their tribal camps and do what they think is politically right, rather than what is ethically and morally right and what is common sense.

Rather than merely criticise, I invite Health Minister Jim Wells, Finance Minister Simon Hamilton, the Stormont Executive, MPs and local politicians to cast their eyes away from front line services and instead look at the number of MLAs and their expenses, in particular, the rent and rates paid for political premises. Surely in today’s world of laptops, mobile ‘phones and public buildings we shouldn’t have to pay landlords’ mortgages off at the expense of our health.

Reducing the number of health trust chief executive officers, senior management and quangos would ensure savings to see our health service well into the future. When we are ill, we don’t need to be managed, we need to be treated by consultants, doctors, nurses equipment and auxiliary staff.

More stringent monitoring needs to be exercised in areas where money is spent in the name of health. Just before the old Downe was closed, an exorbitant amount of money was spent on part of the building which has since been pulled down, while £64m was spent on its new-build replacement which is systematically being pulled down. Remember, this is our money they are wasting. But sure it’s easier to spend and mismanage other people’s money and something as simple as a coffee shop and newsagent’s shop were closed at the new Downe to fund an “away day” for staff.

People of Down have rallied, signed petitions, held silent protests, took part in white line protests and public meetings. You are battle weary, angry, frustrated and feel helpless. What can we do?

Write and telephone your MP, MLA and local councillor. Talk to the local and regional media and put posters in support of the Downe in your home and on your cars and be ready to rally.

One political party once said “we haven’t gone away.” Well, neither have the citizens of Down. Another political party declared “no surrender”

and “what we have we hold.” The late Dr. Ian Paisley said “never, never, never.” The people of Down say “no, no no” to the closure of any of our hospital services.

Yours etc.,

MRS. ANNE TRAINOR,

Downpatrick.

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