Downe baby urges more equality

Downe baby urges more equality

31 May 2017

LOCAL people deserve the same access to hospital services their counterparts in Belfast enjoy, a young Downpatrick man told last week’s event at the St Patrick Centre.

Patrick Michael Botsford said he was born in the former consultant-led maternity unit in the town which was bulldozed to make way for the new Downe Hospital which provides a midwife-led maternity service, one which he hopes his own children will be able to enjoy one day.

He said the Downe is “at the heart of the community” and like many local families he has a relative who works there, highlighting the need for the hospital to provide the services local people need, not those which decision makers say they should have.

Patrick continued: “I am no second class citizen. I am the same as everyone else who needs hospital facilities. A man once said to me you are no better than anyone, but no one is better than you. If people in Belfast can get first class hospital treatment, then we should also.

“Rural communities should not be discriminated against. We have lost 24-hour A&E services at the Downe and the removal of the service was described as ‘temporary” and I think we need to find out exactly what is meant by ‘temporary.’ Doctors could not be found to work in the emergency department in Downpatrick but they were queueing up to work at Newry’s Daisy Hill and its A&E service was saved.”

Patrick also called for the reinstatement of the dedicated coronary care unit which was closed at the Downe, not for clinical reasons, but due to financial pressures.

He declared: “It seems to us here that the most vulnerable people in the community are those who cannot afford private health care or do not have the means to travel to Belfast. They are the people who lose out. Many people, especially the young, need access to mental health services on an urgent basis, but yet resources are so badly stretched, beds are closed and people wonder why waiting lists are increasing.

“My generation will fight to improve and protect our local hospital services across East Down. The Downe was the biggest employer in the area and if the number of jobs that have been lost were to happen in a factory in Belfast you would hear the politicians’ response.”

Patrick issued a reminder that two years ago, 20,000 people marched in Downpatrick to defend local hospital services, adding: “What sensible politician would ignore the wishes of 20,000 people, after all, Daisy Hill was not a problem for the politicians in Newry. Why are we still waiting for answers four years after services were downgraded at the Downe?”