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A packed to capacity Millar Suite in the Canal Court Hotel in Newry saw many left standing for the duration of last night's two and a half hour Save Daisy Hill Hospital meeting.
It is fair to say the 700 plus attendance were all extremely angry at the recent announcement by the Southern Trust and all were determined to protest by their presence and help ensure that maternity services remain at Daisy Hill Hospital.
The Save Daisy Hill Hospital meeting was called following an announcement last week by the Southern Trust that maternity services could potentially move from Daisy Hill to Craigavon Hospital in November due to what the Trust claim is a shortage of Consultants.
The Trust has stated this is temporary but there is much concern that 'temporary' very often becomes permanent where Daisy Hill services are concerned. Both Stroke Services and Emergency Surgery removal were billed as temporary and are no longer available in the hospital. Both were also subject to massive displays of public anger.
While panel members and political representatives spoke from the heart to the audience, the most heart wrenching conversations came from the floor.
Son would be dead if taken to Craigavon
An emotionally charged mother who had given birth at home spoke of how her son would be dead if he had been taken to Craigavon, as the paramedics had been advised to do, despite her living just five minutes away from Daisy Hill. She explained "I delivered the baby in the bathroom at home, and only for the ambulance services and the services of Daisy Hill. I can stand here today. The ambulances appeared, what seemed like forever. I was doing mouth to mouth to mouth on the baby, trying to do all that we could. And against the advice that the paramedics had been given to take my baby at 26 weeks to Craigavon with no support, no equipment, or anything to get them on that road. I lived within five minutes of Daisy Hill, and they were going to send them on a 50 minute journey. Exactly one week after that, it happened to us as a family the news came out on the headlines, and I felt physically sick. Thankfully, the paramedics were very experienced, and they knew better. And they told Daisy Hill they were coming."
No one spoke to staff
A justifiably angry Ernie Campbell explained: "when the announcement was made, everybody was standing in front of Daisy Hill with their cameras doing their interviews for their different parties, and left. Not one person went and asked the staff of Daisy Hill, "How is this impacting on you? How is this? Are you going to be able to pay your mortgage?"
Make consultant travel from Craigavon to Daisy Hill in 35 minutes
A former employee of the Southern Trust at Daisy Hill said she believed the percentage of births consultants are actually present at is very low: "I want the people in this room to know that the data in relation to how many births consultants are actually present at is very easily collated, and I can tell I'm sure off the top of my head the percentage is very very low. But my point being, given that consultants are not present on the floor, they are actually the least present on the floor. On the floor for Daisy Hill mummies and babies are the midwives, the maternity support members, the domestics, the SHRs, the registrars, and the specialist registrars. Consultants have the run on the end of the phone, and if they think moving from the end of the phone justifies what they're trying to do to the people of this area, well, I would like to see who's making decisions like that."
She added: "if you need to lift the phone to ring the consultant, do it. Let the consultant make it from Craigavon to Daisy Hill in 35 minutes."
Best and worst of times
A Unison representative read out a statement from a person who wished to remain anonymous. "We are not talking about closing a ward on a spreadsheet. We are talking about where women in this community will receive maternity care, and where some will give birth. We are talking about mothers who will go into labour and have to travel further from their homes. We are talking about partners, grandparents, children, and families who may have to travel further to be beside someone they love, both in the best of times and sadly the worst. We are talking about mothers and babies, and we are talking about a maternity service that has been part of this community for generations. In the last year alone, 1,713 babies were born at Daisy Hill. Behind that number are 1000s of women and families who have depended on this service at some of the most significant moments of their lives."
Huge trouble
Francis Gallagher, SOS Daisy Hill spoke of how we are in huge trouble. "Over this past two years, we have always maintained that a hospital, a local acute hospital, rests on seven pillars and if you take one of those pillars away, such as stroke services, if you take then emergency general surgery away, that will collapse as well, and we maintain eventually, all those pillars will collapse, and that's what's happening now. Hopefully, we can prevent it. But the next one on the chopping block is the maternity, and what's the next one after that ... ". Almost in unison the crowd said A&E!
A safe hospital
Rachel Hillen, Joint Branch Secretary of Unison Newry and Mourne Branch said: "People care deeply about Daisy Hill Hospital. They care about maternity services, and they care about having a safe hospital available here in Newry. For our members, this isn't just a debate about where a service sits within the Trust. Our members work at Daisy Hill, they provide these services. They care for women and babies every single day, and many of them also live here. Their families live here. Their children were born here. Daisy Hill is their hospital."
Hillen added: "There is also a wider question about the future of Daisy Hill. Hospitals are not simply collections of completely separate services. Services support one another. Every time a major acute service is removed from a hospital, we have to ask what the impact that has on the sustainability of the rest of that hospital. That is why this community is asking a very reasonable question: If maternity goes, what happens next?"
Planned
Eddy Curtis also from SOS Daisy Hill said: "There has been a campaign for a number of years now. It targeted stroke, It targeted emergency surgery, now they're going to target maternity services. And when you think about this, and you sit down rationally and look at it, you can actually see all of these have been planned."
He added: "Craigavon is 20 minutes from the Royal or the City [hospitals]. If you're in Annalong, and I did this, I got into the car in the road. It's an hour and 37 minutes for you to get to Craigavon. So if you have a stroke, you need emergency surgery, or you're having a baby. They're telling us that this is all about safety. How can it be about safety?"
Will the service come back?
Deborah Yapicioz representing Unison Orchard Branch said that people don't fully appreciate the devastation and uncertainty this is causing for those who work in these services. "They are people who have dedicated their careers to caring for women and babies. They have built teams at Daisy Hill. They have built relationships with each other and with this community. They are proud of the service they provide and proud to work at Daisy Hill. And now they are facing enormous uncertainty about what happens next. Where will they work? Will they have to move? What will happen to their working patterns? What will this mean for their children and childcare and family responsibilities? What happens to the teams they have spent years building? And perhaps most importantly, will the service they have dedicated themselves to ever actually come back?"
Reform means getting less
Marc Mac Seáin, People Before Profit said "Why is it always that reform of these services just means that we are getting less? Why is there only austerity for people living in the likes of Newry or in Enniskillen or in Coleraine? We deserve equal healthcare just as much as anybody else does, and equal access to that healthcare."
He added "Why is the Department of Health in the Republic of Ireland not working up here to keep these services in Daisy Hill? It affects people across the entire island."
Unite
Gemma Brolly, SOS Causeway believes we have to unite. "Whether it's SOS Daisy Hill, SOS Causeway Hospital, and I can tell you, there's more and more SOSs beginning to start and come on board. So how about in the next month we see so many feet on the streets for all their own reasons, but united for each of our hospitals, for every single one of our areas, our mothers, our babies, our fathers, our children, our elderly, every single person across the north deserves so much better than they have had and we will make sure, united, that we get it"
Solutions
Looking at solutions President of Newry Chamber, Conor Patterson spoke of consultants getting 100k more per year in the south, a change needed in the notice period if consultants are seeking to leave, a serious structural change needed to prevent "no birthing centres south of Lough Neagh" and lastly the Irish Government with their "huge budgetary surpluses" needs to be part of the solution.
System problem
Liz Kimmins MLA spoke of how the proposals affect not just Daisy Hill. "Not only does this impact Craigavon because they lose their winter pressure beds if they have to absorb additional births and mothers and parents coming. That then goes to Belfast and then goes elsewhere. This is a system problem and it needs to be seen as that."
She added: "We continue to fight tooth and nail because I want not just my friends and my families babies to be born there, I want my grandchildren to be born in Daisy Hill, so anyone who wants to come to me, we're here and we will stand up for the people of Newry, South Armagh and South Down."
All the power and none of the responsibility
Justin McNulty MLA added: "Last to get first to lose, that's how it feels in this area all the time. We have seen the tried and tested playbook in relation to service collapse, temporary closure, patient safety, permanent closure. We've seen it with stroke services, we've seen it with emergency general surgery, now we're seeing it with maternity"
He added: "People who control the Executive have to take ownership and stop this and stop scapegoating and making excuses. I'm sick of them taking all the power, all the control and none of the responsibility. Take responsibility, save our hospital, stand up for the people locally, do the right thing. Save our hospital."
Trust need to show they care
Cllr David Taylor spoke of the Health Minister being from his party but said: "First and foremost, my duty is to the people in this room and the people in this area irrespective of what your part affiliation is, and I certainly make no bones about that."
He added: "We need a firm commitment from the Department of Health and from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust to show that they do genuinely care about Daisy Hill, because unfortunately we haven't seen that so far."
Speak with one voice
Cllr Henry Reilly added: "There are things that do divide us but on issues like this, DUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP, we do speak with one voice on an issue like this, that's really important."
SOS Daisy Hill are planning a public rally later in October. Details will be publicised soon.
