Safeguarding the Causeway Hospital’s future

Coleraine Borough Council recently met with senior management from the Northern Trust to receive an update on the implementation of Transforming Your Care and in particular the implications for the Coleraine hospital.

At the meeting, Paul Cummings, Senior Director with the Northern Trust presented a way forward to improve current services such as accident and emergency waiting times. Additional areas of care within Causeway Hospital which are also being reviewed, aiming to improve pathways for patients include: maternity; pediatrics; cardiology; respiratory; services for the elderly; medical and surgical.

In response to queries about A&E services, Mr Cummings told councillors Causeway Accident and Emergency has made impressive strides to reduce waiting times, so much so that since August 2013, no patient has remained in A&E for longer than 12 hours with 90 percent being seen in less than six hours. He said that improvements are also being achieved in the four-hour waiting time target, however it is acknowledged that more work needs to be done in this regard.

Mayor Harding said: “I am very proud of our hospital and the excellent care that it provides, however we all have to acknowledge that some changes to Causeway are inevitable. Causeway Hospital provides services in many areas such as: A&E; theatres; maternity; medical; intensive care; cardiology; and psychiatry.

“I do not know what this service model will look like for Causeway Hospital but I look forward to a continuing dialogue with Trust Management and the newly formed Causeway Service Management Team. With Mr Fred Mullan, Consultant Surgeon appointed as the Clinical Director for the Causeway site I believe that Causeway in its own right has a future in making a meaningful contribution to the health of the wider Northern Trust population.”