Expectant mother begins legal action on moving maternity services from Daisy Hill to Craigavon Area Hospital
An expectant mother hoping to give birth at Daisy Hill Hospital has launched a legal challenge to the decision to transfer births and inpatient maternity services to Craigavon Area Hospital.
The move is due to take effect on November 23, the Southern Trust Board confirmed on Tuesday.
The trust said it would need up to five additional consultants to maintain the Daisy Hill service, but that recruitment efforts nationally and internationally had been unsuccessful.
Chief Executive Steve Spoerry said the temporary transfer would go ahead.
“Despite extensive efforts across the regional Health and Social Care system, we have not been able to secure the consultant obstetric workforce needed to safely maintain inpatient maternity services at Daisy Hill Hospital and renew the current rota,” he said.
“The Trust Board has therefore agreed that births and inpatient maternity care will temporarily consolidate at Craigavon Area Hospital from Monday 23 November 2026, in order to protect the safety of women and babies.”
The trust said the retirement and resignation of several consultants created difficulties, with up to five permanent consultants needed to provide a safe service in Newry.
However, the decision has prompted an expectant mother to begin legal action through Phoenix Law.
The firm said it had sent a formal pre-action letter to the Trust and Department of Health requesting a response by Friday, otherwise it will apply to the High Court for urgent intervention.
Solicitor Jack Murphy said: “Daisy Hill delivers more than 1,700 babies a year and serves a large rural and border community. Ending births there is one of the most important decisions affecting families in this area for a generation.
“A decision of that importance must be taken lawfully, after listening to the women it affects and properly assessing the risks to mothers and babies.
“We have asked the Trust and the Department to pause this move. If they do not, we will ask the High Court to intervene.”
DUP MLAs Diane Dodds, Diane Forsythe and Gareth Wilson said Daisy Hill now had only two full-time permanent consultants, supported by three locums.
They said the permanent consultants had raised concerns about working without adequate peer support.
“Craigavon Area Hospital will now be expected to handle almost a quarter of all births in Northern Ireland, while operating with only eight of the 12 consultants it needs to run its current service,” they said.
“That raises serious questions about capacity, resilience and patient safety.”
Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh Dáire Hughes said the Trust, Department of Health and Health Minister had “failed mothers and babies” in the area, and called for services at Daisy Hill to be stabilised and its future funded.
Alliance health spokesperson Danny Donnelly MLA blamed a lack of long-term workforce planning.
He said implementing the Renfrew Maternity Review, published nearly two years ago, could have helped prevent the situation, adding: “That we are here now is a clear failure for women.”