Doctor shortage at Downe could be eased from foreign initiative

Doctor shortage at Downe could be eased from foreign initiative

7 May 2014

THE recruitment of foreign doctors could pave the way for the restoration of early evening and weekend A&E services at the Downe Hospital, according to South Down MP Margaret Ritchie.

The service was axed at the start of the year by the South Eastern Trust, with administrators blaming their decision on a shortage of middle grade staff.

Miss Ritchie’s call for foreign doctors to be recruited to work in Downpatrick comes after confirmation that the National Health Service is to recruit trainee doctors from India in a bid to address A&E shortages in hospitals across the UK.

Miss Ritchie said normal competency tests traditionally associated with the recruitment of foreign doctors have been waived by the NHS for the new recruitment drive.

This week, she has called on Stormont Health Minister Edwin Poots and Dr. Clifford Mann, the chair of the London-based College of Emergency Medicine, to ensure more A&E doctors are recruited from abroad to work at the Downe.

Miss Ritchie said it’s her understanding that health officials will use the Skype video and audio system to interview “dozens of overseas medical workers” in order to tackle an NHS staffing crisis that has left almost half of specialist training places for casualty doctors unfilled for the past three years.

“Dr. Mann told me at the start of the year that this recruitment exercise would result in the appointment of A&E doctors from India in August. I impressed upon him the need for such recruitment exercises for fully competent emergency doctors to include hospitals in Northern Ireland, including the Downe,” the MP revealed.

“There is now a pressing need for Minister Poots, who has again acknowledged to me in correspondence that there is a shortage of A&E doctors in Northern Ireland which is putting a burden on many of our emergency units, to ensure the Downe’s A&E doctor-led service is restored at weekends.

“Minister Poots must now put added pressure on the College of Emergency Medicine to ensure recruitment exercises like the one being undertaken by the NHS are extended to the Downe Hospital. The community in Down and Mourne demand the same equality of access to services their neighbours in Belfast currently receive.”

Miss Ritchie said she plans a further meeting with Mr. Poots and the College of Emergency Medicine to ensure “this matter is fully addressed and that weekend doctor-led A&E services at the Downe Hospital are fully restored.”