Downpatrick SDLP Councillor Colin McGrath has welcomed a ruling in a Judicial Review case in the High Court which says that Dalriada Hospital must stay open as the early closure without proper consultation was not correct.
The Dalriada Hospital in located in Ballycastle in the Northern HSC Trust area.
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Councillor Colin McGrath has welcomed the court ruling that Dalriada Hospital must stay open, thus supporting the case for the Downe Hospital’s coronary Care ward recently closed due to cut backs.[/caption]
He said: “I now ask, what about the Coronary Care Unit at the Downe Hospital?
“We have raised the question all along that the decision to shut the Coronary Care Unit at the Downe Hospital and brand the decision ‘temporary’ in an effort to circumnavigate due process and proper consultation was wrong.
“This court judgement now vindicates this stance.
“I now call on the Minister to reverse the decision taken by the South East HSC Trust which this judgment, by default, brands as incorrect, and ask that the coronary care service remain at the Downe Hospital, and that staff be relocated back to their posts with due and proper process  adhered to.
“When it comes to people’s lives, health and well-being tomfoolery and circumnavigating the rules is not acceptable – as this Judicial Review decision for Dalriada proves this.
“I now expect these services to be reinstated at the Downe and have asked Down District Council solicitors to examine the ramification of this decision and the impact upon service delivery at the hospital.”
The Dalriada Hospital case may well now be case law now and it remains yet to be seen if the South Eastern HSC Trust will backtrack on their decision in closing the Downe Hospital coronary care ward.
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