Nicola Grant Workers Party Representative for Newry and Armagh commenting on the announcement from the South Health Trust that Daisy Hill Maternity Unit will have to close temporarily because of the lack of consultations and for patients' safety said this is part of a pattern that has been the hallmark of every service that has been removed from local hospitals.

She said over the decades and the many health service restructuring temporary means permanent closures, and this is yet another example. The Trust says it is having a problem recruiting consultants and they must act to ensure and deliver safe service for mothers but how does mothers who go into labour across the catchment area that Daisy Hill covers travelling to Craigavon across country roads and hillsides when they are at their most vulnerable frightened and helpless constitute safety for the patients.

This will be seen by many as a cynical opportunistic move by the trust and the department to implement the planned closures in the strategic planning spelt out in earlier consultation documents. The Trust need to publish the numbers of consultants in Craigavon Maternity unit and how they will cope with the additional patients if they are saying there are sufficient cover to manage a safe service then perhaps the easiest solution would be to transfer some consultants from Craigavon to Newry. If they are saying the consultants will not work in the Newry location, then the question must be asked and answered by the trust as to Why.

Ms Grant said patients should not be forced to follow medical staff and vested interests should not be permitted to dictate where services should be delivered the people of Newry, Armagh, Bainbridge and South Down should not have to make the journey to Craigavon. It is up to the trust to ensure services continue at Daisy Hill Hospital. This is a failure of the department of health to put in place the promised workforce strategy and the culture of allowing medical staff to decide where and when they will work, other health service staff do not have that luxury. It is time for the interests of patients and their families to come first, and vested interests stopped being in charge.