Questions about the impact of removing emergency surgery at Causeway Hospital remain unanswered despite a series of public meetings, campaigners have warned.
The warning comes ahead of the closure of a public consultation on plans to end emergency general surgery at the Coleraine hospital and consolidate provision at Antrim Area Hospital.
The Northern Health Trust has said it believed this option will “maintain safe and effective care” and would provide a sustainable model for the future provision of general surgical services.
It has emphasised the importance of “planning its workforce pro-actively rather than waiting for and reacting to an inevitable collapse in the service”.
However, a campaign group has said the Trust has been “left in no doubt” that the community in the Causeway Coast and Glens area is against the plans and do not believe it will lead to improved waiting lists.
The SOS Causeway Hospital group has called for a rally to take place in the Coleraine area on Saturday December 7 to show support for the retention of emergency surgery at Causeway Hospital.
The planned rally will depart Causeway Hospital at 1pm, with participants making their way to Coleraine Town Hall.
SOS Causeway Hospital chair, Gemma Brolly, said: “The Northern Health and Social Care Trust were left in no doubt following their ‘listening event’ in Coleraine last month that the community of Causeway Coast and Glens are against the removal of emergency surgery at Causeway Hospital.
“Concerns raised at that event came from service users, from parent, grandparents, farmers; from administrative staff, Surgery staff and consultants. Many questions remain unanswered.”
At a recent listening event in Antrim’s Dunsilly Hotel, William Taylor, of group Farmers for Action, expressed concern about the proposal, saying: “We need hospitals to be open and active and in the locality. We are most concerned about the direction of travel.”
Written submissions on the plans can be sent before the closure of the public consultation this Friday, November 29.
Neil Martin, the Northern Trust’s director of strategic planning, performance and ICT, said: “We are pleased that we’ve had the opportunity to discuss our proposals with almost 200 people across our four public engagement events.
“We’ve also had almost 100 written responses to our consultation to date, and if others wish to share their views with us, there is still time and we would encourage them to do so.”
The Trust says a review of general surgery within the Northern Trust is “made necessary by a number of factors including workforce challenges, which have made it increasingly difficult to maintain the required levels of staffing to deliver all aspects of general surgery services across two sites”.
