1 Comment
Workers Party representative for Newry and Armagh Nicola Grant has said the announcement that Daisy Hill Maternity Unit may close temporarily is part of a pattern that has been the hallmark of every service removed from local hospitals. Commenting on 21 September 2026 on the Southern Trust's announcement, made on the grounds of a lack of consultants and patient safety, Grant said: "Over the decades and the many health service restructuring, temporary means permanent closures, and this is yet another example."
"The Trust says it is having a problem recruiting consultants and they must act to ensure and deliver safe service for mothers," she said, "but how does mothers who go into labour across the catchment area that Daisy Hill covers travelling to Craigavon across country roads and hillsides when they are at their most vulnerable, frightened and helpless, constitute safety for the patients."
Grant said: "This will be seen by many as a cynical opportunistic move by the trust and the department to implement the planned closures in the strategic planning spelt out in earlier consultation documents." She called on the Trust to publish the number of consultants at Craigavon Maternity Unit and explain how it would cope with additional patients, adding: "If they are saying there are sufficient cover to manage a safe service, then perhaps the easiest solution would be to transfer some consultants from Craigavon to Newry. If they are saying the consultants will not work in the Newry location, then the question must be asked and answered by the trust as to why."
"Patients should not be forced to follow medical staff and vested interests should not be permitted to dictate where services should be delivered," Grant said. "The people of Newry, Armagh, Banbridge and South Down should not have to make the journey to Craigavon. It is up to the trust to ensure services continue at Daisy Hill Hospital."
She said the situation was "a failure of the department of health to put in place the promised workforce strategy, and the culture of allowing medical staff to decide where and when they will work, other health service staff do not have that luxury." Grant concluded: "It is time for the interests of patients and their families to come first, and vested interests stopped being in charge."
