Appeal for additional beds at Downe Hospital

Appeal for additional beds at Downe Hospital

19 September 2018

HEALTH campaigners are urging the South Eastern Trust to provide additional beds at the Downe Hospital.

The call was issued at a recent meeting of the Down Community Health Committee when there was a warm welcome for a number of new service developments at the hospital and confirmation that a business case aimed at paving the way for a new MRI scanner is due to be submitted shortly.

Campaigners say the additional beds are required and while senior health officials do not share their view, lobbying to increase the current number of 42 beds will continue over the coming months.

The health group says the traditionally busy winter results in an upsurge in the number of elderly admissions across all hospitals and that there is a need for more beds which they argue should in fact be available all year round.

Committee chairman Eamonn McGrady said two new consultant physicians, one full-time and one part-time, have been appointed and will begin work at the Downe from next month.

He said health chiefs have also confirmed a number of Ulster-based consultants are now providing cover at the Downe for the next year as work continues to recruit permanent staff to work in Downpatrick.

“A fourth doctor is now in place to support the hospital’s frailty service and the roll out of enhanced care at home, with the South Eastern Trust saying the various appointments have placed the organisation in the best position it has been in for some time regarding local medical cover,” said Mr McGrady.

Mr McGrady read from a letter sent by the organisation’s chief executive, Hugh McCaughey, in which he made it clear that there are no plans to increase bed numbers at the Downe, arguing the “current inpatient bed numbers are adequate” with the focus on so-called ambulatory care to provide an alternative to hospital admission.

Mr McGrady said the chief executive’s letter also confirmed plans to develop the Downe’s frail elderly assessment unit. 

He said one of the most significant developments was the opening next April of a regional ophthalmology service at the Downpatrick hospital with work due to start imminently to make way for the new outpatient facility which will bring patients from across the province to the Downe.

Mr McGrady continued: “The health trust says a number of Ulster-based consultants are undertaking specialist outpatient clinics across the full range of specialties in Downpatrick and that  considerable progress is being made in order to sustain and enhance safe and wide ranging services on the Down site.”

Mr McGrady said MrCaughey’s letter also confirmed work is underway to finalise the business case for the MRI scanner, which should be submitted within the coming weeks, and that there are significant capital and revenue costs associated with the service. 

Trust officials say while an early outcome to the process to secure such a facility is not anticipated, they believe the case for the new scanner has considerable merit.

“There are a number of positives as far as the Downe is concerned with increased medical cover, new consultants, a new ophthalmology service, work underway to secure an MRI scanner but the weakness is that all this does not address the fundamental problem which is a shortage of beds,” continued Mr McGrady.

“We are now coming into another winter when there are pressures and we do not have any more beds in the Downe and we don’t have a commitment to put more beds into the hospital. It was quite clear last year and indeed over previous years that there are acute bed pressures being experienced at the hospital.”

Committee member Aidan Harris referred to trolley waits at hospitals, including the Ulster in Dundonald and argued the solution was the provision of more beds to cope with demand and not just over the traditionally busy winter period.

The Down Community Health Committee’s next meeting will be held on Monday, October 8 at 7pm at Denvir’s Coaching Inn.