Causeway maternity closure: MLA Maurice Bradley brands decision 'total disgrace'

“I am fearful for the lives of mothers and unborn babies,” said Bradley.

“It is totally unjustifiable to expect women to travel past the front doors of Causeway Hospital, a journey that could be over an hour, to have their babies in Antrim.

“A DUP delegation met with the Northern Trust at the start of the year to highlight the need for a Maternity Unit to remain at Causeway. In my view the meeting was only held to pacify us, they clearly did not take any of the points we made on board.

“Today’s announcement tells me that the public consultation was manufactured. The decision to close the Maternity Unit was already made and it really didn’t matter that the majority of responses were against the closure of the Maternity Unit.

“I am aware that Causeway staff were told last year that the Unit would be closing, so what was the point in trying to fool us into thinking our opinions mattered? The Trust needs to be open and honest and tell us what they have planned for the Causeway Hospital. It is very clear to me that they are slowly running the hospital down, removing departments, so that it is not cost affective to keep it open.

“The Northern Trust Management needs to be restructured. I think it is time for a total review of our health trusts in Northern Ireland, we need to get away from centralising everything to Belfast.”