Rural hospitals: Campaigners across NI demand Stormont action, but health authorities insist issue is already being looked into
Measures are already being worked on to address issues with rural hospitals, health chiefs have insisted after a joint call from multiple campaign groups.
Authorities also insisted the system is moving to more of a community care model in general, after campaigners called for services to be safeguarded in hospitals.
The groups argued cutting services and procedures from rural hospitals is a Stormont-wide issue, and as such needs to be tackled by a new body created using elements of different government departments.
They also called for a presumption in favour of bringing back any hospital units that are temporarily suspended by the authorities, having in the past argued that such suspensions regularly lead to them being permanently axed.
Campaigners represent attempts to protect units and services at Enniskillen’s South West Acute Hospital, Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry and Downe Hospital in Downpatrick.
Writing to several Stormont ministers, they say moves to withdraw or suspend services need to be approved by multiple wings of the government, not just the Department of Health, and should also be run through equality tests and specific assessments of their impact on rural patients and their families.
Such cuts, they argue, also affect transport, family budgets, isolation, and even the long-term sustainability of rural communities.
But the department insists it’s already looking into the situation, telling the News Letter that Health Minister Robbie Butler is “acutely aware of the issues faced by those living in rural areas, and takes those issues very seriously”.
Pointing to a consultation on overhauling the health system that reported back last month, a spokesman reinforced that the minister had announced the creation of an “independent expert reconfiguration committee” to advise on “future major or controversial” changes that will take both medical need and the public interest into account.
The spokesman added that the minister has “asked officials to review the existing guidance governing the change or withdrawal of services, including consideration of rural and equality impacts”.
Mr Butler has also “noted the concerns of local populations”, the spokesman said, as shown by his decision to pause and review plans to rework the hospital system, which would have axed some services from local hospitals to concentrate them in larger regional facilities.
He also reinforced that authorities are rolling out a new “neighbourhood model” of the health system, which is designed to shift care out of acute hospitals and into the community.
“Established under the department’s reset plan, the neighbourhood focus is on addressing local needs, reducing inequalities and improving outcomes through early intervention and prevention,” he stated.
Meanwhile Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Deborah Erskine welcomed rural campaigners from across the province coming together.
“People are rightly frustrated at the lack of understanding and joined up approach from the Health Minister regarding rural healthcare,” she told the News Letter. “These groups are right to highlight the concerns that exist.
“For too long, the can has been kicked down the road. Rural communities are being failed by a lack of action and there is a need for decisions to finally be taken.
“Only the Health Minister can take those decisions, which can and will then be scrutinised by the executive as a whole. He needs to step up and do so before the end of this assembly term.”