Silent protest as cuts undermine hospital

Silent protest as cuts undermine hospital

5 November 2014

SUPPORTERS of the Downe Hospital are fighting once again for its survival. Protesters gathered at the entrance of the hospital on Friday ahead of it being hit hard by a series of cutbacks being planned by the South Eastern Trust.

The Trust, which needs to save £5m by March, plans to cut nine beds at the Downe, merge the coronary care unit with the remaining medical beds and drastically reduce all elective surgery.

The only surgery carried out at the Downe is elective.

The cuts are being labelled as temporary and are part of a wide-ranging cuts programme being rolled out across the Trust.

Among those protesting with placards were Anne Shannon and daughter Ceara Gray-Shannon. Mrs. Shannon is the widow of high profile health campaigner, the late Dick Shannon, who was admitted to the hospital’s coronary care unit on many occasions.

“I am here as I am a supporter of the Downe Hospital,” she said. “I have been since the first Down Community Health Committee was set up in 1984.

“I think it is outrageous what is happening. I think it is an absolute disgrace. My husband was a patient here. It saved his life, it saved numerous lives.”

Describing staff at the Downe as “excellent” Ms. Gray-Shannon added: “This is just against your human rights. You need to have a hospital here within reach. We pay our taxes and insurance contributions.”

Carla McGrady, from Downpatrick, attended the protest with her children Niamh (9) and Daniel (8).

“It was really just to support the community,” she said. “It is just the start of the process of eliminating our hospital. It is such a distance to go to end up in the Ulster or the Royal, especially for coronary care.”

Lucy Connor (17), from Ardglass, said the cuts had caused “anger and disbelief” within the local community and called on Health Minister Jim Wells to intervene.

She said she had relatives who used the hospital frequently, and that more cuts spelled more inconvenience for patients.

“The roads around here are not great if you have to go to Belfast,” she said.

Sisters Diane Boyle, from Kilmore and Dawn Madine, from Crossgar, were also present. Earlier this year Dawn’s young son, who had croop, was taken to the out of hours service at the Downe, which operates when the A&E department closes at night.

“As soon as they saw him they said he needs an ambulance because the A&E in the Ulster had certain drugs,” she said. “We had to wait over an hour and it was an emergency.

“It was the night they were all at the incident at the Odyssey in Belfast.”

Dawn has nothing but praise for the ambulance staff but said as they were using sat nav, she used her local knowledge to advise them of the quickest route.

Expressing concern that the hospital building could be closed within months, Diane added: “It is a disgrace, that building is brand new, state of the art.”

Shaun Synnott (19) attended the protest with several members of the Ardglass branch of Street Safe.

“We wanted to give our support to the local community,” he said. “The amount of times my family and close friends have needed that hospital it is mad. We are just shutting it down, bit by bit by bit.

“Think of Ardglass and it’s an extra 15 minutes on to the 45 minutes to get to Belfast.”

Dean of Down, Henry Hull, also lead those gathered in a prayer, offering thanks for the commitment of the doctors and nurses at the Downe and asking that politicians be guided to make “wise choices”.

Other cuts within the South Eastern Trust include the closure of six beds at Lagan Valley Hospital, the closure of 20 beds at Bangor Community Hospital, the closure of Bangor Minor Injuries Unit, the postponing of a new nurse-led minor injuries service at Lagan Valley, and a reduction in domiciliary care places.

There will be no reduction in core staff but the use of agency staff will be cut along with overtime.

All cuts will take place by December 1.