No babies to be born at Daisy Hill Hospital in service suspension plan

No babies will be delivered at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry if plans for a temporary suspension of services go ahead amid "significant" workforce pressures.

The Southern Health and Social Care Trust, which oversees the hospital, said it has not been able to recruit consultant obstetricians to fill vacancies and it is preparing to temporarily move inpatient maternity services to Craigavon Area Hospital.

It is thought ante and postnatal clinics will continue in Newry but alternative arrangements will be made for women due to have their babies in Daisy Hill from November.

However, campaigners are concerned that it could mean another service moves away from the hospital.

Eddy Curtis, from the campaign group Save Our Services Daisy Hill, said he understands that "other options" should be considered if a service is unsafe, but asked: "Why does it always have to be Daisy Hill?"

However, Health Minister Robbie Butler told the Northern Ireland Assembly that "no final decision" has been taken yet.

Citing staffing issues, the trust said it "cannot run a safe maternity service without the required medical cover".

It added that "unfortunately that is a position that the trust is having to plan for at this moment in time".

Southern trust interim chief executive Steve Spoerry said the health minister had asked the wider Northern Ireland health system to explore what support might be available to help maintain the service in Newry longer term.

He said it was "more likely than not" that maternity services would move from Daisy Hill, but "it was "not quite a done deal".

"We are still working on trying to find more obstetricians, the minister has been very clear he wants the system to see if they can find ways to help the hospital keep going and we want that work to take place as quickly as possible, to see if we can come up with some sort of solution," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.

"But you reach a point where something is becoming more and more likely and you have got to plan for the contingency and that's the point we are at."

Spoerry added that in terms of the trust's recruitment efforts, "it would be a nice surprise if something changed", but he is "not expecting it".

He said the trust had "advertised in every medical recruitment channel in the UK and Ireland" and "dealt with 110 recruitment agencies internationally".

"We've written to every obstetrician in Northern Ireland asking if they want to come and do additional work at Daisy Hill that's well remunerated.

"Our consultant obstetricians have used their personal networks within the specialty, I can't think of more stones we could turn over really to try and deal with it."

Colm McCafferty, director of children, young people and women's services at the trust, apologised to expectant mothers and their families "for the inconvenience of having to change their birthing plans".

Over the last number of years, McCafferty said the trust had "experienced increasing challenges to recruit consultant cover to the Daisy Hill site".

"That has become particularly difficult over the last number of months with a number of retirements and two consultants taking up post in other trusts in Northern Ireland and our inability to recruit replacements."

In the last year, 4,481 babies were born within the Southern trust's two maternity services: 1,713 at Daisy Hill Hospital and 2,768 at Craigavon Area Hospital.

BBC News NI understands that Daisy Hill Hospital's maternity unit has become reliant on locum and temporary staff.

While efforts are continuing to obtain the required level of consultant cover to maintain services, McCafferty said "the trust has to plan on the basis that we will have to temporarily consolidate services on the Craigavon site from the end of October into November".

He said the trust will engage with women through its community-based midwifery service in terms of agreeing birthing plans, ensuring that any challenges are planned for, whether that is transport or anxiety around having to go to a different hospital.

The trust said its medical workforce pressures reflect a wider shortage of consultant obstetricians across Northern Ireland and the UK.

Dr Beverley Adams, the divisional medical director for Integrated Maternity and Women's Health at the trust, said affected women will be informed about the possible need to move the birthing part of their journey as they prioritise "safe patient care".

Adams said she understood that travel time would be a factor for more women, but the trust had dealt with that before and they have systems in place that "can deal with that safely again".

Butler told Stormont there was no final decision on the future of maternity services, but that the consultant workforce position had become increasingly fragile.

He said the Southern Trust might need to introduce temporary contingency arrangements unless sufficient medical cover is secured.

Butler added he recognised there would be "understandable concern" among expectant mothers, staff and within the community more widely.

"I must stress to members this is all still an emerging picture, and no plan has yet been finalised or approved by my department."

He said he had made clear that any contingency plan must address a number of issues, including how women and babies will be cared for safely, how sufficient capacity will be created at Craigavon and how "appropriate obstetrics support will be maintained for the ED at Daisy Hill".

Curtis from Save Our Services Daisy Hill, said he understands that "other options" should be considered if a service is unsafe, but asked why it "always have to be Daisy Hill?"

He said the hospital serves not only Newry but also provides for people from across south Down and south Armagh.

Citing previous service removals from the hospital, he said that taking away stroke services meant people in southern areas, like Annalong, had to travel about 90 minutes to Craigavon.

"You're playing with people's lives," said Curtis.

"And I'm sure there are a lot of ladies out here who are expecting, and they will be very, very nervous."

Curtis argued Daisy Hill be given "parity of esteem", and said since Craigavon Hospital retain stroke services then Newry should get to keep maternity services.

The loss, or potential loss, of any service from any of our hospitals in Northern Ireland is always a contentious issue.

You just have to look at recent wranglings over emergency general surgery within the Northern Trust.

And it's an argument the Southern Trust will remember well as the Department of Health (DoH) permanently removed emergency general surgery from Daisy Hill in January 2024.

The potential loss of its maternity services will undoubtably raise tensions further, both politically and among the community.

While the department is very clear that this is not a done deal and the health minister is appealing to the rest of Northern Ireland to help, it is hard to see where that help will come from.

This is a workforce planning issue, which is the responsibility of the department, and the Southern Trust has been trying, and failing, to retain and recruit consultants for months.

Those who use Daisy Hill will be acutely aware that, in July 2023, maternity services were permanently suspended at Causeway Hospital and consolidated at Antrim Area Hospital and may fear that the Southern Trust will follow suit.

But not if the new health minister can help it.

Anyone who is concerned should contact their midwife first or call the dedicated maternity information line on 028 3756 1325 which will be open between 14:00 BST and 17:00 on Monday to Friday.