Call to allocate funding services boost at Downe

Call to allocate funding services boost at Downe

27 June 2018

HEALTH chiefs have been urged to provide new funding to enhance service provision at the Downe Hospital.

The appeal by South Down MLA Colin McGrath and former MP Margaret Ritchie comes after it was confirmed recently that an initial £1.65m is to be invested to help fund urgent and emergency care at Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital.

There is no 24-hour A&E provision at the Downe, much to the disappointment of local people, health campaigners and politicians who hope the Newry investment will be reciprocated in Downpatrick by senior health chiefs.

Welcoming the investment at Daisy Hill — which Mr McGrath says will go a long way towards helping secure future provision in Newry — he said the decision raised questions about the “speed of money being found in the face of the ongoing battle to secure investment at the Downe”.

He continued: “The Newry investment, along with securing workforce for the hospital, happened at lightning speed, yet the same issues are faced by the Downe and the movement is more glacial.

“We have been told time and again that funding isn’t an issue when it comes to the emergency department at the Downe, with the problem one of workforce as the staff that are needed are simply not available. But workforce was not the issue which closed the hospital’s dedicated coronary care unit.”

“One wonders if there is a two-tier system for resolving issues in our health services,” the MLA continued.

“I have written to the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Health and congratulated him and his officials for their sterling work in resolving the issues at Daisy Hill, encouraging them to dedicate the same effort to resolving matters at the Downe.

“The area served by the Downpatrick hospital matters too and I want to see that reflected in the work of the Department of Health.”

Miss Ritchie urged senior officials at departmental and health trust level to allocate additional services to the Downpatrick hospital, alongside the Downe’s “much promised” MRI scanner.

She said: “Now that £1.65m has been allocated to provide a new assessment centre at Daisy Hill and for emergency department services, I am urging the Department of Health and the South Eastern Trust to vigorously work together to bring new enhanced medical and health services to the Downe where the accommodation is available, along with the technology.

“Local people deserve and demand local accessibility to medical and health services at the point of delivery. Proper and adequate use must be made of the ultra-modern medical facility at the Downpatrick hospital.”

The former MP insists that for this to happen, both the government department and health trust need to put their shoulder to the wheel, confirming she intends to lobby for more additional services to be allocated to the Downe.

Downpatrick councillor John Trainor also called for additional investment at the Downe. 

He said following the closure of the hospital’s coronary care ward, reduced A&E provision and lack of elective surgery facilities, the East Down population “lacks the crucial provision of accessibility to health services and facilities.”

Cllr Trainor said there was no direct bus link between the local area and there Ulster Hospital at Dundonald, with people having to make two bus journeys to get there via Belfast.

“Given this area has pockets of deprivation and a growing and ageing population, financing public transport is a major issue for the old and vulnerable. People in East Down have unwillingly been pushed down the road to Belfast to access services with no regard to how they get there.”

He added: “Local people deserve an equal opportunity to access services at the Downe which are enjoyed by their counterparts in Belfast.”