‘Daisy Hill Hospital concerns have become critical’ – McKevitt

Karen McKevitt MLA has said that concerns about services at Daisy Hill Hospital have now become critical following a night of severe pressure on out of hours and A&E services.

According to the local MLA, Out of Hours calls were returned over nine hours after first contact was made and one caller was told there were 120 people in front of her in the queue.

McKevitt told Newry Times, “I was shocked to hear accounts from local people last night about the severe difficulties they had accessing services at Daisy Hill as a result of critical pressure on out of hours services. The situation here has gone far beyond concern and it’s imperative that we see urgent intervention to address the issues.

“I was contacted by a mother who phoned the out of hours service for help with a sick child. She waited over 9 hours for a phone call back from a doctor. Another local resident told me that when she called the out of hours service she was told there were 120 people ahead of her in the queue,” she revealed.

“There is very clearly a critical problem at the heart of the management of patient flow which involves the supply of doctors available to Daisy Hill. The current situation is totally untenable and I have requested an urgent meeting with the Health Minister to address all the issues.

McKevitt added, “Daisy Hill is our local hospital and I will fight tooth and nail to protect it. We cannot wait for a major incident or a death before we take action. We must all come together to support the hospital, its staff and patients and to enhance the service they offer for local people.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=54320

Posted by Newry Times News on Jan 7 2016. Filed under Community, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry