Fears continue to grow around the future of maternity services at Daisy Hill Hospital after staff were pulled into an emergency meeting last week.
While the Southern Trust say “work is ongoing to assess how best we can stabilise and safely sustain maternity and gynaecology services across the Trust area,” SDLP MLA Justin McNulty claims the Trust “were moving to pull maternity services out of the hospital”.
The Newry and Armagh representative has warned the Southern Trust to think twice before making such a decision.
“On Tuesday, October 15, I was contacted by several members of the midwifery team at Daisy Hill Hospital, who told me that they were pulled into an emergency meeting with management to discuss the future of maternity services at the hospital,” said Mr McNulty.
“Staff were given 20 minutes notice for the meeting. There was no independent trade union representation, and it was made clear to midwives that the Trust were moving to pull maternity services out of the hospital.
“That afternoon, I confronted the Health Minister in the Assembly, and he said he had no knowledge of plans to withdraw maternity services at Daisy Hill. If it is the case that the Southern Trust is going rogue on this, then the Health Minister needs to come down on them like a tonne of bricks.
“I am glad that I threw the cat amongst the pigeons through my intervention with the Minister. The word I am getting back is that the Trust are now under massive pressure, and I want to keep them under pressure. It’s not too late for the Trust to do the right thing.
“The Trust promised us that maternity services at Daisy Hill were safe. They should take a very deep breath before they break that promise. If they plough ahead, the Trust needs to know that they will have a massive backlash on their hands.
“I have hope that with continued pressure, the Southern Trust will pull a last minute U-turn on this issue and pretend that it was never their plan in the first place. I can live with the Trust’s press machine calling me every name under the sun. What I can’t live with is the prospect of the wellbeing of mothers and babies potentially being put in harm’s way because of the failures of Southern Trust management.”
A spokesperson for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust told Armagh I: “The Southern Trust provides an area wide maternity and gynaecology service, across the community and from our two hospital sites – Daisy Hill Hospital and Craigavon Area Hospital.
“Like many other specialties throughout health and social care, obstetrics and gynaecology services have been facing growing staffing challenges, impacting midwifery and consultant teams.
“We greatly appreciate the flexibility of the whole obstetric and gynaecology team and their dedication to women, mothers and babies in difficult circumstances.
“Work is ongoing to assess how best we can stabilise and safely sustain maternity and gynaecology services across the Trust area.
“We appreciate the ongoing support of families and the public as we work through these challenges.”
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