McNulty seeks meeting with new Health Minister on Daisy Hill Hospital | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

McNulty seeks meeting with new Health Minister on Daisy Hill Hospital

SDLP Assembly Member for Newry and Armagh Justin McNulty has written to the newly appointed Minister for Health Michelle O’Neill seeking an urgent meeting on Daisy Hill Hospital and health care in South Armagh.

Daisy Hill Speaking to Newry Times, McNulty said, “Sustained investment in Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital and the provision of health care in South Armagh was one of the major issues raised with us during the recent election campaign.

“The SDLP pledged to continue to fight for our health service locally and with the appointment of the new Health Minister this week, I have written to Minister O’Neill and sought an urgent meeting with her.

“Daisy Hill Hospital,” he continued, “is without any shadow of a doubt a first class hospital. In recent years there have been some very welcome investment in the site and some services have been expanded, however at the same time we have seen other services withdrawn back to Craigavon, once such example is the Stroke Unit.

“There is a genuine fear within the community and within many staff in the hospital that the hospital is under constant threat, and whist the Southern Health and Social Care Trust have always sought to allay those concerns, the new Minister for Health must too give assurances on the future of Daisy Hill.

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May June 2016 updated“Daisy Hill is an acute hospital and that status must remain but in addition to that I want to see services at Daisy Hill expanded and developed in the future,” the local MLA insisted.

“We are all too aware that the previous Health Minister Simon Hamilton appointed an independent expert panel to look at the future of health provision across Northern Ireland in January and their work will be crucial to the future of Daisy Hill and indeed health care in general.

“In addition to discussing Daisy Hill and the Minor Injuries Unit in Armagh City, I also want to discuss the provision of health care in rural communities like South Armagh.

He added, “We are very much aware of the pressures on GP Surgeries, but there are also significant pressures on the GP Out of Hours Service, Ambulance Service, and services in the community. We need to see a realisation at the heart of government that these services are vital to sustainable rural communities.”

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Posted by on Jun 1 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

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