Daisy Hill emergency general surgery permanent closure plan confirmed

The move, which has been put out for public consultation, will mean the closure of general surgery at Daisy Hill hospital in Newry will be made permanent.

The Southern Trust ceased offering emergency general surgery at the Newry hospital in February last year – but described the move as an “interim” measure.

Now, a Trust spokesperson has confirmed the intention to make the move permanent, saying: “The Southern Health and Social Care Trust is proposing that all Emergency General Surgery Services for the area are delivered from the Craigavon Area Hospital site on a permanent basis. The proposal was approved at Trust Board (Thursday 26th January) and is now available for public consultation.”

The spokesperson continued: “From February 2022, as a contingency measure, in response to difficulties in recruiting and retaining consultant general surgeons, the Trust consolidated emergency general surgery to Craigavon Hospital to maintain the safety of the service for all patients.

“Recruitment of general surgical consultants has been an ongoing challenge across Northern Ireland and work has been ongoing to develop more sustainable emergency and elective surgical services for the whole population.”

Speaking at Trust Board, Chief Executive, Dr Maria O’Kane said: “Following the publication of the Review of General Surgery in June, our surgical team has been exploring how we can meet the new regional standards to ensure the best clinical outcomes for all patients who need emergency general surgery in the Southern Trust.

“Delivering all Emergency General Surgery from the Craigavon site, 24 hours a day, seven days a week is the only way we can safely meet best practice standards, with the staff and resources we have available, offering back up from sub specialist surgical services, intensive care and MRI, if needed, to give our patients the safe, high quality and modern care that they deserve.”

Dr O’Kane also insisted the emergency department at Daisy Hill will remain open.

The Public Consultation is open until April 21.