New proposal will accommodate97% of patients who used A&E

Last year the Star launched the campaign aimed at getting back a round the clock service at the Lisburn hospital after a shortage of junior doctors forced the Trust to close the A&E department overnight.

There was a massive response with thousands of local people signing our petition and relating their stories of why local access to emergency care was so vital.

At the time the South Eastern Trust pledged they would listen and this week, at a meeting with Lisburn councillors, revealed plans for 24 hour access which will be presented to the Trust Board at the end of this month before a public consultation is launched. It is then local people will have their last chance to make their voice heard.

The Trust will be presenting four options to the Board, however their preferred vision is to have 24 hour service made up of limited emergency department hours, together with enhanced GP out-of-hours, which will include direct admissions to the hospital.

This option will also include the co-location of the health centre, as well as enhanced roles for Emergency Department nursing staff. It would mean the hospital would have its doors open 24 hours a day to patients.

Making the presentation to the Council’s Corporate Services Committee, the Trust’s Director of Hospital Services, Mr Seamus McGoran said they were still finalising details for the proposals, including the exact opening hours at the emergency department.

“The challenge is to maintain the current opening hours,” he said. “In an ideal world we would like to extend them, but we have to shape a service which is sustainable in terms of the availability of doctors to staff the unit. We are working on this at present.”

Following the public consultation, which is due to run until April 18, the final proposal will be brought before the Trust Board in May before going to the Health Minister, Lagan Valley MLA Edwin Poots, who will make a final decision.

Mr Poots has repeatedly expressed his support for the Lisburn hospital and this week he once again reiterated that support, saying this was a “significant step in reinstating 24 hour services at the Lagan Valley Hospital.”

Mr Poots continued: “The proposal as it stands would accommodate 97% of people who had previously used the service on a 24 hour basis and it is important to ensure the hospital is able to receive people on a 24 hour basis for admittance to wards.

“The reduction in hours was something that could not have been anticipated and it has been a difficult period in time for the hospital.

“I trust that we can have a positive outcome which will enable us to move forward in the future,” he concluded.

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