Department of Health challenges BBC claim that Daisy Hill hospital in Newry to lose some services

General surgery is performed on common abdominal complaints such as gallbladder surgery, hernia repairs and bowel repairs.

Yesterday the Department of Health announced that Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry is to become a centre for planned surgeries in which patients require at least one overnight stay.

Health Minister Robin Swann said Elective Overnight Stay Centres were being established as part of a reorganisation of NI surgery services announced in June.

However, BBC News NI also reported that Daisy Hill will permanently lose emergency general surgery, which was paused there in February due to recruitment challenges.

However the Department responded that, "Contrary to BBC NI reports today, no decision has been announced on the future of emergency general surgery at Daisy Hill Hospital. Nor has any decision been taken."

The Southern Trust said that following the publication of the Review of General Surgery in June it has been "engaging with colleagues regionally on how we locally implement the standards for elective and emergency surgery". It added: "We are working with the Department of Health to ensure that any local consultation on emergency general surgery will be informed by this wider Northern Ireland review and new regional standards.”

Under the review, some hospitals hubs will be for day surgery while others will specialise. There will only be a limited number of overnight general surgery centres. The hubs are generally intended to service patients from across NI and not just from their own locality.

SDLP Newry & Armagh MLA Justin McNulty welcomed the Elective Surgery Hub at Daisy Hill, but said more detail was needed "to ensure it secures the long-term sustainability of the hospital". He added that the news "does not make up for the loss of emergency general surgery provision, which has rightly angered local people".

Alliance Health spokesperson Paula Bradshaw MLA said the hospital services transformation process now appears to be happening at pace, but said it would have been "more useful" for the wider plan for NI to be published "in its entirety".