Management at Daisy Hill Hospital are bracing themselves for the release of the eagerly-awaited Compton Review this week. Health Minister Edwin Poots will receive the report into the major review of health services in the north today (Tuesday) before presenting it to the Assembly’s Health Committee tomorrow. In November it was reported that the review would recommend the downgrading of Daisy Hill but the reports were quickly downplayed and described as “speculation”m by the report’s author John Compton. On Wednesday the Assembly health committee visited Daisy Hill too hold their monthly meeting. The visit presented the chance for Southern Trust Chief Executive Mairead McAlinden and her team to outline their vision for the future of Daisy Hill. She explained how the Southern Trust area caters for the “fastest growing population in the north and how Daisy Hill also provides care for people in counties Louth and Monaghan. Dr Gillian Rankin the Trust’s director of Acute Services added: ” The strategic plan for Daisy Hill Hospital includes the centralising paediatric elective surgery, emergency and ambulatory; amalgamating Critical Care Unit and High Dependency Unit into a dedicated 10 bed high dependency unit to manage the most acutely ill in one unit and the expansion of the emergency department which saw phase one completed and phase two about to start. At Wednesday’s meeting Derry MLA Mark Durkan described the speculation as “Chinese whispers” that “impacted on the confidence of staff at the hospital.” Both Minister Poots and Health Care Board chief executive John Compton have said the current service is unsustainable. Mr Compton failed to rule out possible closures and said changes in the use of some health service buildings was “almost inevitable.”
13th December 2011
Newry Democrat
“