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11/06/2018
Funding Announced For Emergency Care At Daisy Hill Hospital
A total of £1.65 million is to be invested to fund emergency care at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.
The money will be used towards transforming and modernising services and also strengthening the workforce, according to the Department of Health.
SDLP MLA Justin McNulty said the money will go some way to ensure that services are both "protected and sustainable".
He said: "This is a vital step in ensuring that services at Daisy Hill are secured after a period of uncertainty over the future of the Emergency Department. Much of this money will go into strengthening the workforce which is imperative following a period of staffing challenges.
"Part of this investment will also help to establish a new admissions and assessment unit to run alongside the Emergency Department, providing telephone advice to GPs and paramedics and will also allow some elderly patients to bypass the Emergency Department. This will help to streamline efficiency and also ensure that people receive the best care possible.
"I must acknowledge the hard work of local people who have been campaigning for years to protect our Emergency Department and those involved in the Pathfinder Group. I have been working and pressing on this issue and the SDLP has consistently made clear that the closure of any services at Daisy Hill Accident and Emergency would not be accepted."
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said: "The presence of a permanent emergency department in an area the size of Newry should never have been in question in the first place.
"This issue has served as another example of the importance of workforce planning across the service. In too many instances services are at risk not because of budgets, but because workers cannot be found. In some cases, such as this one, this is because there is a perception that the transformation programme is putting a service at risk when this is not in fact the case.
"I myself was happy to visit the hospital and to endorse the local campaign the maintain emergency service provision. We cannot escape the fact, however, that a functioning Health Committee at Stormont providing proper scrutiny of this case would have ensured the issue was resolved sooner. I am happy also to see the establishment of the admissions and assessment unit, which should ease the burden on those working directly in the emergency department."
(CD/LM)
The money will be used towards transforming and modernising services and also strengthening the workforce, according to the Department of Health.
SDLP MLA Justin McNulty said the money will go some way to ensure that services are both "protected and sustainable".
He said: "This is a vital step in ensuring that services at Daisy Hill are secured after a period of uncertainty over the future of the Emergency Department. Much of this money will go into strengthening the workforce which is imperative following a period of staffing challenges.
"Part of this investment will also help to establish a new admissions and assessment unit to run alongside the Emergency Department, providing telephone advice to GPs and paramedics and will also allow some elderly patients to bypass the Emergency Department. This will help to streamline efficiency and also ensure that people receive the best care possible.
"I must acknowledge the hard work of local people who have been campaigning for years to protect our Emergency Department and those involved in the Pathfinder Group. I have been working and pressing on this issue and the SDLP has consistently made clear that the closure of any services at Daisy Hill Accident and Emergency would not be accepted."
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said: "The presence of a permanent emergency department in an area the size of Newry should never have been in question in the first place.
"This issue has served as another example of the importance of workforce planning across the service. In too many instances services are at risk not because of budgets, but because workers cannot be found. In some cases, such as this one, this is because there is a perception that the transformation programme is putting a service at risk when this is not in fact the case.
"I myself was happy to visit the hospital and to endorse the local campaign the maintain emergency service provision. We cannot escape the fact, however, that a functioning Health Committee at Stormont providing proper scrutiny of this case would have ensured the issue was resolved sooner. I am happy also to see the establishment of the admissions and assessment unit, which should ease the burden on those working directly in the emergency department."
(CD/LM)
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