The chief executive of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust has thanked members of the public who attended and took part in recent outreach events which were held as part of a consultation into a proposed review of surgery at Antrim and Causeway Hospitals.
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”.
Speaking at a meeting of the Trust board at Antrim Hospital, on Thursday morning, chief executive Jennifer Welsh said that she wanted to reassure the public that all views from the recent listening events have been recorded as well as written responses.
“It all forms part of the responses coming back to this board,” she stated.
Public meetings have taken place at hotels in Coleraine, Magherafelt, Antrim and online.
The Trust 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”.
“A more efficient use of our resources would be to have one site specialising in emergency and major colorectralcolorectral 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.
Campaign group SOS Causeway Hospital said:
“Those partaking in the Coleraine listening event on Monday, October 7 were extremely clear, in their line of questioning and their comments. They are not happy with the chosen option nor with the lack of detail on how these options were compiled, by whom and why there was not another option where both sites could be invested upon to support their communities.
“We the people, do not believe this is the safest and most timely decision for our community. We are positive and believe solution-based answers can be found in co-operation and genuine consultation. The question remains to be seen however, at these ‘listening events’ who exactly is doing the listening.
“SOS Causeway Hospital urge all stakeholders to ensure they obtain all the information they need before completing their consultation response. We ask also that members of the public contact their elected representatives and ask what their position is and how they will represent and support their constituents in this matter.”