Show Your Support For Daisy Hill

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is calling on all citizens of the area to give their support to Daisy Hill Hospital by joining in a major rally on Saturday 13 May 2017 at 11am at Middlebank, Newry to oppose any closure to the Emergency Department at Daisy Hill Hospital

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Gillian Fitzpatrick said, “The rally will focus on supporting the retention of full acute services at Daisy Hill and in particular, the necessity of retaining the 24 hour Emergency Department service. This will build on the excellent work of the community campaign which has ensured that the Southern Trust has acknowledged the clinical need for this service”

Councillor Fitzpatrick continued, “Whilst our immediate concern is for Emergency Services, it is essential that in this era of centralisation of health services we must come together to fight for the people of Newry, Mourne and Down”.

Rural areas are particularly hit by centralising of services as the poor roads infrastructure and public transport system mean difficulties for both patients and relatives in accessing hospital services. The additional transport requirements will place an extra burden on what is universally agreed to be an already overstretched ambulance service. Even if an ambulance is immediately available many parts of Newry, Mourne and Down cannot be reached within the 8 minute target time for a category A life threatening emergency, problems which will be compounded if ambulances are tied up transporting patients to centralised services and if local Emergency Department services are reduced.