Wells to be urged to stop the cuts

Wells to be urged to stop the cuts

21 January 2015

HEALTH Minister Jim Wells will discuss cuts to frontline services at the Downe Hospital with local politicians later today.

He is due to meet a Down Council delegation to discuss the controversial decision to axe seven beds at the Downe and close the dedicated coronary care unit by merging it with a medical ward.

Elective surgery has been drastically scaled back at the hospital, while domiciliary care packages — which provide key support for the elderly to allow them to live at home — are to be slashed by a third.

The cuts are part of a contingency plan aimed at saving £5m before the end of March although hospital administrators insist the service reductions are ‘temporary.’

Council chairman Billy Walker, who is leading the delegation, said local people fear the cuts could become ‘permanent,’ further undermining the future of the Downe.

“The Downe is the people’s hospital and must deliver the services it was designed to provide. People are fed up watching the emaciation of key services and have had enough,” he declared.

“The message to Mr. Wells and his senior officials at today’s meeting will be loud and clear — hands off our hospital. The people of Down District are not prepared to be treated like second class citizens.”

Councillor Walker said the cross-party delegation will be pressing for the reopening of the seven beds which have been axed at the Downe, along with the reinstatement of the hospital’s dedicated coronary care unit.

Today’s meeting at Castle Buildings is the first opportunity councillors have had to put their concerns at the latest cuts imposed at the Downe to the Province’s Health Minister.

Councillor Walker said concern about the further undermining of the Downpatrick hospital have prompted health campaigners to organise next month’s public rally and protest at the South Eastern Trust’s decision.

Meanwhile, an appeal has been issued to Mr. Wells to “fully utilise” the Downe Hospital. South Down MP Margaret Ritchie issued the call following a ministerial statement last week when Mr. Wells highlighted the importance of “protecting and using health and medical facilities to their full potential.”

Miss Ritchie said Minister Wells must apply the same logic and maxim to the “full restoration and utilisation of services” at the Downpatrick hospital.

She continued: “In a ministerial statement, Mr. Wells said it was important to protect and use health and medical facilities. He said it is ‘absolutely vital’ those assets are used to the maximum and that there really is no sense in spending millions of pounds on a new facility to have it lying empty for several hours a day or at weekends.

“If the Minister believes in this principle then he should it apply it to the Downe. Surely in appreciation of that logic with regard to the need to protect medical and health facilities, it would be prudent for Mr. Wells to ensure that it is applied to the full utilisation of the Downe Hospital?”

Miss Ritchie believes it’s time for the Minister and his Department to come forward with a plan and strategy to protect the Downe, restore services that have been withdrawn and list new services which could be located in the hospital.