Health minister pledges future of Downe Hospital

Health minister pledges future of Downe Hospital

5 May 2021

HEALTH minister Robin Swann has insisted that there are “no hidden plans” to close the Downe Hospital.

He gave the commitment during a Stormont debate last week when South Down MLA Colin McGrath called for the retention and expansion of key services at the Downpatrick hospital.

The Assemblyman also called on the health minister to ensure that the Downe plays a significantly greater role in the province’s network of health provision, urging him to pave the way for the hospital to provide more regional services and ensure that plans for a dedicated MRI scanner are delivered.

Making it clear that he was not in a position to say when the Downe’s emergency department would reopen, Mr Swann denied that any local hospitals were earmarked for closure.

He also warned against “political grandstanding” which, he said, would “become a threat to our health service” as he discussed the future of the Downe.

The minister said: ”Let me be clear. There is no plan, hidden or otherwise, to close, downgrade or run down any hospital. This does not mean that every single hospital will remain frozen in time. It does not mean that all services will be delivered in exactly the same way until the end of time.

“I am worried about petty point-scoring politics when it comes to the vital task of reforming and transforming our struggling health service.”

Mr McGrath — along with local health campaigners — is keen to see 24-hour accident and emergency and cardiac services returned to the Downpatrick hospital as soon as possible.

Last March, emergency services were temporarily closed at the Downe as part of the reconfiguration of health services in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In October, a consultant-led urgent care centre opened at the Downpatrick hospital and operates between 8am and 6pm, with patients required to contact staff before they attend.

During last week’s debate, Mr McGrath said the people of Down and Mourne accepted the temporary reconfiguration of services in the face of a worldwide pandemic.  

“We accepted this temporary reconfiguration in spite of the fact that it was done without public consultation, without an equality assessment and without public approval,” he said. “We put our faith and goodwill in the health minister that when it was possible to do so, these services would be returned to the Downe. One year on, this has not happened.

“I have stood in this chamber on multiple occasions extolling the virtues of the Downe and that it would play its part in the fight against Covid and what we want to know is when will we get our emergency department back?”

Mr McGrath praised the success of the coronavirus vaccination programme, explaining that vaccinations centres for local people were based at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald and Belfast’s SSE arena which did not represent equal access of opportunity. He argued that people in Belfast would not be asked to travel to Downpatrick to be vaccinated.

Turning to the issue of waiting lists, Mr McGrath said coronavirus had resulted in further delays and claimed that it could be up to 10 years before the issue is addressed in Northern Ireland, but only five in England.

He said he believed the five-year difference was because successive health ministers had presided over a service that was getting smaller and more centralised.

He said bed numbers had reduced and workloads increased, while the need for nurses had never been greater.

Mr McGrath said there had been major investment and enhancement at the Ulster Hospital yet almost every week warnings about significant pressure at its emergency department were posted on social media. He said it was clear that something was not working.

He continued: “I wonder constantly at the contribution that the Downe Hospital could make to the wider network of health provision in Northern Ireland. 

“We have delays in our health service yet operating theatres at the Downe only operate about 60% of the time and not at weekends for NHS work. There is no anaesthetist based in Downpatrick and the question is ‘how much more could be done there?’

“We often hear the adage that people are happy to travel for their health care and that being the case, why does the Department of Health not think people won’t travel to Downpatrick for their services? What have officials got against our town and our hospital which offers cataract services but it’s mostly local people accessing it.”

Mr McGrath said the Royal College of Physicians had highlighted that one of the consequences of removing services from local and smaller hospitals was to risk making them irrelevant.

He continued: “Would I step away from a campaign to save the Downe Hospital? No, especially not after successive health ministers have insisted on taking services away, leaving people at a health disadvantage.

“The voice of these people will be raised to the highest levels of government and it cannot be ignored. Just a number of years ago, the Downe had a 24-hour emergency department, provided elective and non-elective surgery, cardiac wards, an intensive care unit, full maternity hospital, over 100 beds. Stop telling me I’m politicking when in 20 years we have had all that stripped out and even the ambulances bypass it now.”

Mr McGrath rejected accusations that he was being negative, insisting he was being a realist and 

watching closely what was happening.

He added: “Whatever remnant of goodwill the Department of Health had with the people of South Down is depleting fast and any further reconfiguration of services will not be simply accepted.

“We need the immediate return of services which have been removed. We were promised this would happen. Lives depend upon it.”