Nurses Industrial Action - Services affected

In light of planned Industrial Action scheduled for today Wednesday December 18th 2019, the Southern Trust have published details of disruptions to health and social care services locally.

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The majority of outpatient appointments have been postponed – a total of 1029 patients. Patients affected have been notified, 

Community based clinics and services will also be affected – 172 appointments have been cancelled. Patients have been notified. 

District nursing service will be limited in all areas to essential calls only. 

Domiciliary Care will only be provided to the most dependent service users. Clients have been advised.

• Emergency Departments at Daisy Hill Hospital will be open, but expected to be very busy and we will always prioritise the most urgent patients.

• A small number of planned operations have been cancelled on Tuesday 17^th December – 4 in total. The majority of planned in-patient and day case surgery has been postponed on Wednesday 18^th December – total 75 patients. Emergency surgery will go ahead.

• All community mental health services at Trasna House in Lurgan will be closed all day on Wednesday, December 18^th. Anyone who requires urgent care should contact their GP who will have access to Emergency and Urgent Mental Health services.

• All day centres/resource centres will be closed – 21 in total.

A Southern Trust spokesperson added "The Trust will do everything possible to keep services running, but in many areas we will be working with significantly reduced staffing. This includes a reduced service on our switchboards which may lead to delays answering calls. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."

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