The chair of the biggest shake up of health and social care in Northern Ireland in a generation has met with councillors to discuss his review findings. The Compton Review recommends more care should be provided to people living in their own homes rather than in hospitals or other institutions, care at home should be expanded to meet people’s complex and the role of GPs and pharmacists should be expanded. It is proposed that the number of acute hospitals are cut and hospitals should develop more specialist networks. According to Newry Town councillor John McArdle, the review could eventually have an impact on Cloughreagh House care home in Bessbrook, and Slieve Roe House residential care home in Kilkeel. The acute status of Daisy Hill hospital is also being considered. The councillor described it as and “informative” meeting and said that he was “optimistic” about the future of health care services in Newry and Mourne. John Compton who is also the chief executive of the Health and Social Care Board said: ” It is vital that everyone joins the debate on what they want their health service to look like. The proposals contained in the review offer an unparalleled opportunity to provide Northern Ireland with safe sustainable and accessible care services well into the future. “It is important that we build a system of health and social care which would place the individual, family and community that use it at the heart of how things are done.
Newry Reporter
1st February 2012
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