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A delegation from the SOS Daisy Hill campaign group met with the Southern Trust's HSCT's Interim CEO Steve Spoerry on Monday 1 September. Marc Mac Seáin from People Before Profit's Newry & Armagh attended the meeting and praised Spoerry & other administrative delegates for a fresh, transparent approach.
Upon starting the meeting the group received a list of updates actioned upon since their previous meeting which hopefully will provide a lot of relief to those across the Southern Trust Area.
(1) Daisy Hill will retain its maternity department. Obstetrics is a significant priority for the Trust.
(2) Rathkeeland House GP Surgery will be taken over immediately by the Southern Trust.
(3) Winter Escalation plan is underway, with an intention to achieve a 150% increase in bed provision.
(4) New staff are currently being trained to ensure 24/7 labs going forward.
(5) Nurse practitioner to be brought in for Enhanced Care Unit.
(6) Capital spends underway to rectify a variety of necessary fire & safety, infrastructure & equipment matters.
(7) No immediate commitment on planned Newry Primary Care Centre/ Health Hub but acknowledged as long-term Capital spend priority.
(8) Feedback taken on reworking locations, schedules for clinics with consultations so patients can easily travel & miss less appointments.
(9) Innovations with training of new staff with team-based model
Mac Seáin said "Some longer term issues were discussed and acknowledged. The Trust explains that they are making a concerted effort to fill necessary positions in services whether through headhunting suitable staff or integrating reciprocative locum doctors permanently.
"The flow of patients in ED (particularly during nights) and freeing hospital beds must be improved. Domiciliary care must be reformed although this proves an issue considering available manpower and budget. Cross border cooperation was again acknowledged as necessary although progress is slower than intended. One concerning fact revealed was that the Southern Trust is the only trust which hasn't received capital investments for Acute Care over the past several years - it's said to be 'top of the queue' which we will fight to achieve.
He continued "Unfortunately some larger issues such as GP appointment availability, GP pay & conditions lie within the remit of Nesbitt & the Health Department, alongside many larger spending commitments which effect all trusts. Recruitment of specialised consultations on a permanent basis remains an issue yet apparently there's some changes in approach which may hopefully bear fruits. Much like with our initial meeting, there was no commitment yet to return Emergency General Surgery to Daisy Hill. The remit of the current CEO and administration are to stabilise and retain services. Whilst the Stormont Executive parties & Nesbit remain committed to Bengoa there's no intention to turn the clock back. SWAH has temporarily defeated the removal of EGS, which we watch keenly and hope the defeat is permanent & can cause the service to be returned locally.
"We found this current administration much more communicative & open which we appreciated. It wasn't a perfect meeting and there are things we disagreed on yet it was much preferable to the previous Trust administration which we found stand-offish, extremely uncooperative and duplicitous. There is still a lot to campaign on, keep the pressure on. The Bengoa Report, nearly 10 years old now remains the only strategy for healthcare in the North and quite a destructive one. I've said before it feels like we're 3rd class in our provision of resources from the British state. In an economically unstable environment after many years of austerity we must keep fighting to ensure we get even the basics of what we deserve. I found it a good sign that the trust is apparently willing to send a representative to attend the SOS Daisy Hill campaign AGM at the end of the month, these recent open-handed approaches will help rebuild trust ironically in the Trust."
