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05/02/2013
Poots Addresses Assembly On NI Emergency Services
Health Minister Edwin Poots has made a statement to the Assembly on proposals for the future of emergency services in Belfast.
"In my statement to the Assembly on 13 September 2011, regarding the temporary changes to Accident and Emergency Service Configuration at the Belfast City Hospital, I was clear that in the longer term, a strategic decision will need to be taken on the provision of Emergency Department (ED) services in Belfast," the statement read.
Mr Poots said the main reasons for the temporary changes included:
- a shortfall in recruitment of suitably qualified medical staff, particularly middle grade doctors
- the need for adequate training and supervision arrangements for junior medical staff, especially at night time
- concern expressed by the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency and by the General Medical Council regarding the current level of supervision of doctors
- a general shortfall in medical trainees in emergency medicine
- changes in the Home Office immigration rules which makes it more difficult to recruit doctors from overseas
- changes in the working practices of staff and the need to promote compliance with the European Working Time Directive
The Minister laid out the three key policy considerations for making the changes.
"Firstly, and most importantly," he said, "the need to deliver a safe and sustainable service into the future, where highly-skilled clinical teams...can provide a high quality service for patients."
The second was a directive to enable urgent care services to be provided as close to people’s homes as possible.
The third concerns the a strategy for acute hospitals and service delivery in Belfast, focussing on the development of patient pathways and the development of service profiles for hospitals in the Belfast Acute Network (Belfast City Hospital, Mater Infirmorum Hospital and the Royal Victoria Hospital).
(IT)
"In my statement to the Assembly on 13 September 2011, regarding the temporary changes to Accident and Emergency Service Configuration at the Belfast City Hospital, I was clear that in the longer term, a strategic decision will need to be taken on the provision of Emergency Department (ED) services in Belfast," the statement read.
Mr Poots said the main reasons for the temporary changes included:
- a shortfall in recruitment of suitably qualified medical staff, particularly middle grade doctors
- the need for adequate training and supervision arrangements for junior medical staff, especially at night time
- concern expressed by the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency and by the General Medical Council regarding the current level of supervision of doctors
- a general shortfall in medical trainees in emergency medicine
- changes in the Home Office immigration rules which makes it more difficult to recruit doctors from overseas
- changes in the working practices of staff and the need to promote compliance with the European Working Time Directive
The Minister laid out the three key policy considerations for making the changes.
"Firstly, and most importantly," he said, "the need to deliver a safe and sustainable service into the future, where highly-skilled clinical teams...can provide a high quality service for patients."
The second was a directive to enable urgent care services to be provided as close to people’s homes as possible.
The third concerns the a strategy for acute hospitals and service delivery in Belfast, focussing on the development of patient pathways and the development of service profiles for hospitals in the Belfast Acute Network (Belfast City Hospital, Mater Infirmorum Hospital and the Royal Victoria Hospital).
(IT)
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