Northern Health and Social Care Trust chief executive Jennifer Welsh
The chief executive of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust has stressed that “no final decision” has been made on the future of surgery in the area.
Speaking at a meeting of the Trust board recently, Jennifer Welsh said a recommendation will be made by the board over the general surgery review, at the next meeting, in March, before a decision is reached by the Department of Health.
The chief executive stated:
“We want to ensure staff have had the opportunity to ask questions. Engagement is continuing as we work our way through responses.
“The final report on the proposed way forward will be brought to the Trust board on 27 March. The board’s recommendation will then be referred to the Department of Health. It is important to stress that no final decision has been made.”
At present, the Northern Trust treats around 6,600 emergency general surgery patients each year, 12 per day at Antrim Hospital and six at Causeway Hospital daily.
The Trust has proposed to concentrate all its emergency surgery at Antrim Hospital and planned operations at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.
It considers this option would “maintain safe and effective care for our population and would provide a sustainable model for the future provision of general surgical services”.
The Trust has emphasised the importance of “planning its workforce pro-actively rather than waiting for and reacting to an inevitable collapse in the service”.
The Trust also says its “ability to meet its targets for cancer waiting lists and red flag referrals continues to be a challenge without dedicated elective capacity and access for our patients”.
It has stated “a more efficient use of our resources would be to have one site specialising. in emergency and major colorectal surgery and the other focused on high volume procedures.
“This would help us address our very long waiting lists for procedures which present a lower clinical risk but still have a significant impact on quality of life.”
The Department of Health Review of General Surgery has highlighted the importance of “separating as far as possible scheduled from unscheduled care”.
Currently the Northern Trust provides a range of surgeries at both Antrim and Causeway Hospitals.
These are: emergency general surgery, the treatment of patients for acute abdominal problems, soft tissue infections, bleeding and trauma; general surgery that focuses on diseases of the digestive tract and abdominal cavity; elective general surgery that is planned in advance such as gall bladder, hernia repair and other minor surgeries as well as major colorectal such as bowel resections often for the treatment of cancer and high volume surgery such as gall bladder removal.