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Around a thousand people attended a Save Daisy Hill Emergency Surgery rally in Newry this lunchtime with a rally in Marcus Square followed by a march to Daisy Hill Hospital. Speakers included Cllr Michael Savage, Chairperson, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council; Francis Gallagher, Save our Emergency Surgery; Sonya Ferris, NIPSA and Rachel Killen, Unison and Eddie Curtis, Save our Emergency Surgery.
Speaking at Marcus Square, Francis Gallagher, Chairman, Save Daisy Hill Hospital Save our Emergency Surgery said "This is sending a resounding message to the Department of Health and the southern Health Trust that we want to keep all our acute services at Daisy Hill Hospital. We want the Trust to be accountable. We want them to listen. Step one was we had a huge turnout at the Miller Suite in the Canal Court the vast majority of people at that consultation meeting made their voices loud and clear to the Trust and the Department of Health that we do not want our services, our life saving services taken away.
"Step two was we had over 12,000 responses to the consultation, and they were handed into the Trust at Craigavon last week. We want the trust and the Department of Health to listen to those 12,000 people that signed that not to dismiss it, but to listen to it. And finally today I want to congratulate you for coming out today. And this sends another clear message to the trust and Department of Health that we are not going to accept anything less than our full acute services at Daisy Hill Hospital. Our acute services are not up for negotiation, they are non negotiatiable."
Cllr Michael Savage, Chairperson, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council spoke about questions he asked the Trust without reply "there has been two cases in the last year where surgeons have had to come from Craigavon during the so called temporary removal of emergency surgery from our hospital. The question I asked him was, can you clarify for us what mitigation steps you're taking to ensure that the three main concerns of time delay addressed are addressed? Seven weeks on, still no confirmation or outline of what that mitigation is seven weeks on. Again is there a communication problem or is it just an unwillingness to tell us what they are really at?"
Rachel Killen from Unison said "We are all here today to tell the Southern Trust that they must sit up and they must listen to the people of Newry and Mourne and take their views on board about removal of emergency general surgery. I work in Daisy Hill Hospital and I live in Annalong. My travel time is between 50 minutes to one hour. Can you imagine the time it will take a person in need of emergency general surgery traveling from Ballymartin, Annalong, Attical, Kilkeel, Crossmaglen and Newtownhamilto. The medics talk about the golden hour. Let's not beat about the bush here. People will die as a result of their travelling time. This could be your mum, your dad, your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, your aunt, your uncle, your child. As a trade union rep and a voice for Daisy Hill, want to tell the Southern Trust keep your hands of our services because our fight is just beginning. Power to the people."
Rally participants walked down Monaghan Street and then Monaghan Row to the hospital. When they reached Daisy Hill Hospital they broke into spontaneous applause in solidarity with the staff at the hospital.
