Review is good news but tough challenges ahead

Review is good news but tough challenges ahead

21 December 2011

THE chief executive of the South Eastern Trust has welcomed the publication of the regional review of health and social services in Northern Ireland.

In a special article for the Down Recorder,  Mr. Hugh McCaughey outlines the organisation’s

view of what’s being billed as the blueprint for the future.

Unveiled last week, the Transforming Your Care document details 99 recommendations to improve how care is delivered over the next five years.

THE South Eastern Trust is delighted with the regional review which sets out a road map for the future of health and social care services.

It signals that the organisation has been heading in the right direction and endorses the recent changes that have been made.

But what does the detail of the review mean for services at the Downe Hospital?

Well, it has endorsed the new A&E or emergency department model and has held it up as an exemplar model which other hospitals should consider. It also brings stability to hospitals which would otherwise struggle to recruit middle or junior grade doctors.

One of the most pleasing things is that since the launch of the review, we have heard many media reports questioning the future of hospitals and their A&E departments. Not once have I heard the Downe mentioned as being under threat.

Could we have said that nine months ago and would that have been the case if we had not made the changes last April? Of course not. We have brought stability to the front door of the hospital and I believe cemented its future.

I was also delighted to see that the review advocates the stand alone midwifery led maternity care that the South Eastern Trust has pioneered in Ireland. Our midwifery-led unit at the Downe has proved popular with local mothers and must continue to do so.

Elsewhere, the review recommends greater integration between primary care and the hospital. The capital work to incorporate the replacement of the Pound Lane Health Centre in Downpatrick within the Downe Hospital will support this

recommendation and we also need

to work with all GPs and other primary care professionals to implement the recommendations in the review and continue to enhance our services.

The review also recommends the continued growth of community based services for those with mental health problems, learning disability and older people.

It endorses the recommendation of the Trust last year to complete the resettlement of the last patients from the Downshire and to close the hospital to inpatients. This, of course, is with the exception of the stand alone addictions unit.

The review also recommends a much stronger emphasis on preventing illness and earlier interventions to keep people well, independent and out of institutional care.

This applies to children, vulnerable families, older people, those with mental health problems and to those with disabilities.