In relation to the current crisis at Antrim Hospital, we at Save The Mid believe that this is a direct result of removing both the A&E and Acute wards at the Mid Ulster Hospital.
In 2006 a risk assessment carried out by Deloitte Touché stated that the highest risk to services at Antrim Hospital would be to downgrade the Mid Ulster Hospital to its current status.
Since you have taken up the post as Health Minister there have been 4 separate reviews into the provision of health services within the Northern Health & Social Care Trust:
· Tribal 2010
· Rutter & Hinds 2012
· Transforming Your Care 2012
· The Turnaround Team 2013
None of these reviews have had an impact on service delivery as performance problems are still very real despite fewer people attending Antrim A&E. While Antrim A&E may see surges on particular days the amount of patients attending the A&E are falling.
Save The Mid twice responded to Transforming Your Care giving very detailed breakdowns of performance and capacity within the Northern Health & Social Care Trust. The response also highlighted the lies that were used to shut down the Mid Ulster Hospital. We urge you to again look at the recommendation’s as per Transforming Your Care from Save The Mid and take steps to reintroduce intermediate secondary health care to the Mid Ulster Hospital Site. These recommendations can be found here: http://savethemid.weebly.com/tyc-response-2013.html
At the moment the Mid Ulster Hospital is being run down into a health hub, this was agreed between Magherafelt Council and the Northern Health & Social Care Trust, outside of public consultation and outside of any Equality Impact Assessment. It is the feeling of the group if you as Health Minister cannot intervene then the group will have no option but to seek legal advice and take a judicial review against Transforming Your Care and between Magherafelt Council & The Northern Trust. Following the external review at Mid Staff in England we are also seeking legal advice in potentially taking Corporate Manslaughter cases against those in a position of power within health that have left our health service unable to deal with emergencies which has had led to the death of patients,
Issues and warning signs that were published in the Francis Report regarding Mid Staff are very apparent within the Northern Health & Social Care Trust, and have been for some time, these cannot be ignored and now it is time to externally investigate the Northern Health & Social Care Trust instead of reviewing it as is obvious the reviews are not working. Regarding Mid Staff the warning signs were that for many years there were numerous causes for concern about the Trust’s standard of service, governance, finances and staffing. This is also applicable to the Northern Health & social Care Trust.
You addressed the Assembly and stated that it was a mistake to shut the Mid Ulster Hospital, this is recorded in Hansard, I urge you to fix this mistake rather than try and patch over it with endless reviews.
Yours,
Hugh McCloy
Yvonne McCoy
SAVE THE MID