Daisy Hill Hospital: emergency general surgery set to be halted
Emergency general surgery is to stop at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.
From the end of February patients requiring inpatient assessment will move to Craigavon Hospital about 22 miles away.
In a statement the Southern Health Trust said the measure was temporary until "a full consultation on a sustainable future service model has been completed with outcomes agreed."
The move comes after unsuccessful attempts to recruit and retain consultant surgeons.
Outlining the plans to Trust Board members, Director of Acute Services, Melanie McClements said: “Recruitment of general surgical consultant posts has been an ongoing challenge across Northern Ireland and work has been progressing locally and regionally to develop more sustainable emergency and elective surgical services.
“However, recent changes to our workforce have presented a very immediate and major risk for the safety of our service in the Southern Trust. We cannot maintain a fully responsive emergency surgical service with one permanent surgeon at Daisy Hill. With staffing now so stretched across both sites, the safest way of achieving a more equitable service and the best possible outcome for patients is to have all emergency surgical patients admitted to Craigavon.”
The Trust said there would be no change to the Emergency Department at Daisy Hill which will continue to operate as usual on a 24/7 basis.