Southern Health Trust board members have approved a proposal to temporarily suspend inpatient maternity services at Daisy Hill hospital in Newry, effective 23 November, and relocate these services to Craigavon hospital. The trust cited an inability to recruit sufficient consultant obstetricians to safely maintain maternity operations at both facilities.
The consolidation plan has encountered significant opposition from residents in Newry, South Down, and South Armagh. A legal challenge has been initiated, with a 40-year-old pregnant woman filing judicial review papers at the High Court on Tuesday to attempt to delay implementation. While described as temporary, no specific timeline has been provided for restoring services at Daisy Hill.
Trust leadership indicated recruitment efforts have been exhausted. The trust currently requires eight substantive consultants but will have only two available from the end of this month, supplemented by three locum consultants. The consolidation is expected to result in approximately 1,700 additional births at Craigavon annually. Trust officials stated that Craigavon is prepared to manage the increased patient volume.
Steve Spoerry, Chief Executive of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, characterized the suspension as a difficult decision and apologized to the community. He emphasized that continuing to provide safe inpatient maternity care at both hospitals was not feasible, while pledging to maintain antenatal and postnatal services at Daisy Hill and develop its future as a general hospital.
The trust has implemented transition protocols, including assigning each woman a designated midwife upon registration and establishing a centralized telephone triage service staffed by midwives to direct patients to appropriate facilities. Dr Beverly Adams, Divisional Medical Director for Maternity and Women’s Services, noted that women in rural areas of South Down and South Armagh already receive guidance to deliver at Craigavon or the Royal Victoria Hospital based on risk assessment.
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