Delegation to tell Wells cuts to the Downe will be savage

Delegation to tell Wells cuts to the Downe will be savage

5 November 2014

A SERIES of cuts to frontline services at the Downe Hospital will top the agenda during a meeting with Stormont Health Minister Jim Wells later this week.

The Minister is scheduled to meet with South Down MP Margaret Ritchie who is expected to be joined by other politicians and local hospital campaigners.

The meeting was arranged in the wake of the controversial decision by the South Eastern Trust to axe nine beds at the Downpatrick hospital and close the dedicated coronary care unit by merging it with a medical ward as part of plans to save £5m before the end of March next year.

Elective surgery will also be drastically scaled back at the Downe, while domiciliary care packages — which provide key support for the elderly to allow them to live at home — are to be slashed by a third.

There will be no reduction in permanent staff but the use of agency staff will be cut along with overtime. Staff travelling expenses will be reduced with the Trust implementing the cuts by the start of next month.

The Health Minister has been urged to “protect” services at the Downe and to invest more money in the facility, but ahead of the meeting with politicians and hospital campaigners, Mr. Wells has admitted “tough decisions have to be made to balance the books.”

He said he plans to look at the impact the cuts will have on the community and what can be done to ameliorate decisions taken by health trusts across the Province to reduce spending.

He added: “Trusts have only five months to turn around their budgets and are making difficult decisions. I have to sit down and see whether those are deliverable or not. If they are not deliverable, look at how we find the money in order to ensure we balance the books. The one option we don’t have is carry over debt until next year. We can’t do that.”

The raft of cuts have been labelled as “temporary,” by South Eastern Trust chief executive, Mr. Hugh McCaughey, who said there are “no guarantees” they will not become permanent. He said it will simply not be possible to maintain current levels of service provision in the absence of all the required funding.

Mr. McCaughey has also rejected assertions the dedicated coronary care unit at the Downe is closing because it is being merged with a medical ward. He said the hospital will continue to deliver cardiology services.

News of the cuts at the Downe have caused outrage across the community, angering hospital campaigners, politicians and senior trade union officials.

A silent protest against the cuts was held last Friday afternoon outside the Downe Hospital less than 24 hours after the controversial decision was made public.

A total of 35 beds are being cut across the South Eastern Trust area, but no beds have been axed at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

Health officials have warned while the cuts will affect both the quality and access to some of its services provided in the hospital and community settings, they will endeavour to mitigate the impact the changes will have.

However, the Trust says it cannot prevent impact on certain aspects of service quality and while the organisation does not believe its proposals will leave services unsafe, “there is an increased risk which has to be managed.”