The announcement from the Heath Minister that he is demanding cuts of £30 to £40 million from the Health Service Trusts by the end March 2015 is devastating news for patients and staff according to South Down MP Margaret Ritchie.
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South Down MP Margaret Ritchie accompanied by Councillor Colin McGrath are up in arms about the proposed health cuts.[/caption]
Following yesterday’s announcement (30 October), she said: “These cuts will impact on the lives of all of us… patients, doctors, nurses, health care and ancillary staff. They will threaten every sector of the service right throughout our local health care system.
“The reality is that the DUP and Sinn Fein led Executive has not protected our health service and our communities. Never before have we had such drastic news in relation to our health care provision. These cuts will see reductions in primary and secondary care. Our local hospital services will also face reductions and in my view will face unimaginable and unmanageable pressures and challenges over the next few months.
“I have been informed that the Downe Hospital will operate on a 40-bed model, with the cardiology ward merging with the medical ward over the winter period as a result of these cuts. We are aware that the winter period brings with it an increase in hospital admissions and medical interventions and it is a time when historically we have had to lobby for additional provisions and services in our local hospitals and health service to meet the basic needs of our community and to combat infections.
“While there is no good time to reduce and cut our health service provision it is unimaginable how the Minister and Department of Health can expect these drastic cuts to be absorbed over the winter period, when we know provision has historically had to be increased to meet the basic demands of the population, particularly the health requirement of older people and those at greater risk of respiratory conditions.
“These cuts of £30-£40 million will not only directly impact on our health care provision but will have a knock on effect on other community and welfare services, and place these services also under severe pressures in the coming months as they struggle to cope with the aftermath of a reduced health care system.
“I have already asked Minister Wells, OFMDFM and the Minister for Finance for urgent meetings to demand what steps will be put in place to protect the health and medical services for the people of South Down and the unavoidable pressures in the health care system.”
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McGrath Questions Basis Of Health Cuts
Down District Councillor and Down SDLP group health spokesperson, Colin McGrath, has criticized the Health Minister for his first major decision about NI Health Services to be that the Downe Hospital will be disproportionally impacted and see the closure of NINE beds and the removal of critical services.
‘With the decision taken to impose cuts on our health service, I have a series of questions I would like the Minister to answer:
1 “With 16 Acute, Enhanced and Local Hospitals in Northern Ireland, why is the Downe to shoulder 10% of the bed cuts? This seems disproportionate.
2 “How can you reduce the Downe bed count by 9 in a hospital with a Coronary Care unit with only 9 beds and say you are ‘amalgamating’ its service into the hospital – surely this is a direct closure? 3 “With so much talk of the importance the Downe plays in elective surgery – why is this service also being reduced? 4 “Why were local politicians, trade unions & staff kept in the dark? How is it partnership working if we too have to find out from the news what is happening as yesterday from media releases? 5 “Why were the CEO of the South East Trust and CEO of the NI Health & Social Services Board at a public meeting just last Wednesday extolling how good the Downe is and its importance for the future of healthcare? Did they know then that these cuts were planned? Was it fair to reassure the public at that meeting just EIGHT day ago if they had knowledge of these cuts? 6 “Why is it that once again it is ‘Teflon Dundonald’ – appearing as they do to have survived more SE Trust cuts unscathed? Why are lives in the Dundonald postcode more important than the rest of us? “I find it disgraceful that an elected representative for South Down has presided over and ordered such harsh cuts to the local hospital in Downpatrick and on such a disproportionate basis. It’s obvious that the Minister is a centralist and we shall have to watch his actions in the future in order to protect services at the Downe.” ]]>
