Celebrations marking 10th anniversary of Downe Hospital

Celebrations marking 10th anniversary of Downe Hospital

3 July 2019

THE Downe Hospital has celebrated its 10th birthday. Past and present staff were joined by senior officials from the South Eastern Trust for a special anniversary event last Friday which included a cake-cutting ceremony.

The £64m hospital opened its doors for business on June 28, 2009, after several decades’ of campaigning for a new-build to replace the old Victorian hospital at Pound Lane which had long since passed its sell-by-date.

Castlewellan man Charles Pritchard was the first patient in the new Downe which, at the time, was heralded as the most modern of its kind in Northern Ireland, boasting a wide range of high-tech equipment. 

Almost three times bigger than the old Downe, the new hospital’s opening was a fitting tribute to the unstinting efforts of local politicians and health campaigners who experienced many highs and lows over four decades. 

Health chiefs say the new Downe boasted cutting edge technologies and state-of-the-art operating theatres, delivering acute hospital, acute mental health and dementia services, as well as a range of primary care services.

At last week’s birthday celebrations, the health trust pointed to the introduction of a number of new services over recent years including a cataract service, Trust-wide bowel cancer screening and sexual health services, midwifery-led unit, virtual 

fracture clinic and enhanced care at home service.

Most recently, the widely acclaimed cataract service was named as one of three new regional elective care centres in the Province for cataract surgery, with the Downpatrick hospital at the forefront of a new model of care.

The new cataract service is designed to significantly reduce surgery waiting lists, with the new consultant-led, elective care centre providing routine day surgery procedures at an enhanced outpatient department.

It will be evaluated on performance, quality, service user and staff experience, productivity and overall value for money, with final decisions on permanent elective care centre locations subject to public consultations and ministerial approval.

Health chiefs say the Downe has been especially successful in establishing new ways of working, such as 

the frail elderly rapid assessment unit, the evolving model of the urgent care co-operative and self-referrals to physiotherapy to short cut the patient journey.

They say that since 2009, they have created the conditions for greater integration of care provision for the benefit of local patients and service users. 

“In 2012, the Downe Hospital was able to accommodate the GP and Primary Care Centre, including two local GP Practices and dental services for our most complex patients,” said a Trust statement.

“This collaborative approach laid the foundation for the further development of a trailblazing multi-disciplinary team in 2018 which wraps around GP services to successfully support a wide range of service users and patients.”

The health trust’s Director of Hospital Services, Seamus McGoran, said the Downe continued to be a “shining light”.

He continued: “As healthcare evolves and service models change, our wonderful staff have embraced that change and adopted new ways of delivering services. 

“This has brought it to where it is today; an exemplar of integrated hospital and community care which provides first class care to our local population. It has evolved into a unique model of care which others could learn from.”