Health chief doubles down on no A&E vow

Health chief doubles down on no A&E vow

9 July 2025

THE district’s most senior health chief has again insisted that 24-hour emergency services will not return to the Downe Hospital.

Local politicians had called for its return, but South Eastern Trust chief executive Roisin Coulter says it won’t be happening.

Newry, Mourne and Down councillors recently unanimously backed a motion calling for the return of emergency services and are supporting a petition launched by the Down Community Health Committee.

Campaigners launched the petition in May calling for the return of around-the-clock emergency provision at the Downpatrick hospital, with politicians weighing in with their support and plan to lobby for the return of the hospital’s 24-hour emergency department at Assembly level.

In a letter to councillors this week, Ms Coulter said their motion called for the Department of Health to consider enhancing the classification of the Downe within its future hospital reconfiguration policy and for the local health trust to “continually review the potential for the safe enhancement of services at the Downe”.

She said the organisation’s key priority was to ensure the safe delivery of services to patients.

And she reiterated a statement she made on the A&E issue to the council last November.

“The Downe Hospital plays a vital role in the Trust, delivering a broad range of local hospital services and regional day procedure services, with excellent feedback from patients. I again confirm there are no plans to reopen the Downe Hospital emergency department,” her letter continues.

Ms Coulter said the Bengoa report on the future of hospital services, which has been approved by the NI Executive, championed the model to have one major acute hospital at the Ulster in Dundonald, supported by local hospitals at the Downe and Lagan Valley.

“This model is clinically appropriate, safer for patients and sustainable,” her letter states. “Feedback from patients who use the service is excellent.”

Ms Coulter added: “The Trust continues to strive to deliver the most appropriate services for its population, both within and outside of the hospital setting to maximise efficient use of resources, including the development of the primary care multi-disciplinary teams and hospital at home model of care.”

Hospital campaigners say the community’s resolve in fighting for what it believes is rightly deserved remains as undiminished as ever, with politicians insisting the petition will galvanise the resolve of local people to campaign for the return of a service.

The public, campaigners and politicians argue the return of 24-hour A&E services to the Downe has the ability to reduce lengthy waiting times at the emergency department at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald where the overwhelming majority of local people are taken.

Campaigners no longer want to see local people driven past the Downe to wait 12 hours in the Ulster’s emergency department or left outside in an ambulance as overworked medical staff struggle to cope with the volume of patients.

They want the front door of the Downpatrick hospital to be open, with people not forced to telephone first for someone to determine if they will be admitted or not.

Last week, a leading farmers’ organisation backed the campaign for the restoration of 24-hour emergency services at the Downe Hospital.

Local members of the Farmers For Action (FFA) Steering Committee signed a petition calling for the service to be restored when they met with members of the Down Community Health Committee.

FFA are calling for MLAs to “collectively up their performance” on major issues affecting rural Northern Ireland, including health care and education provision, particularly in the field of special need and school closures.

The farmers’ group has welcomed support for the Downe Hospital campaign from Baroness Margaret Ritchie and South Down MLA Colin McGrath, who met with its representatives when they signed the petition.

FFA said the reopening of the 24-hour emergency department was the “very least” the local rural community deserves, given the taxes they have paid.

The farmers’ group’s William Taylor said concerns for rural hospitals across Northern Ireland is growing by the day with six health trusts and Department of Health continuing to shut down available services.

“This is now costing lives, with a recent damning statement by a top hospital consultant that there aren’t even enough toilets in A&E’s, alongside totally unacceptable waiting times, making it an impossible situation for staff to work in which is costing lives,” he added.