"Stop talking down Causeway Hospital" - MLAs

That was the message from local politicians at last Monday’s meeting of Portstewart Vision the Community Forum.

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell attended the meeting along with local MLAs John Dallat, Billy Leonard and David McClarty and also Assemblyman Jim Wells in his capacity as chair of Health and Public Safety at Stormont.

John Dallat said that the Causeway Hospital was working well in collaboration with other hospitals as is the modern practice.

He said that the hospital came about as a result of robust campaigning and said “we were extremely lucky to get it.”

However he warned against “talking down” the hospital and said “describing it as the biggest nursing home in western Europe is highly negative”.

Billy Leonard also cautioned against being negative in relation to the Causeway Hospital.

He gave an example of how a difficulty in filling a urology vacancy in Coleraine then resulted in “word on the grapevine” suggesting that the Causeway Hospital could be losing its Urology department.

Jim Wells urged local people to be vigilant about what is happening in the Causeway Hospital.

He said that there is a set of “golden six” acute hospitals in the province which are “sacrosanct” but the Causeway Hospital is not one of them.

“Don’t talk Coleraine hospital down, make sure it remains viable. There is a golden six of acute hospitals and everyone is happy when their local hospital is in that six but the pressure is on to make that number smaller.

“One way is for the local community to be active in protecting local services.”

However one resident said that there was a feeling that by not replacing consultants in hospitals such as the Causeway, it means that “it’s too easy to say goodbye to the Causeway” and close it down.

Mr Wells explained that the difficulty is that consultants have a contract which says that they can refuse to take up a vacancy if they think it will not further their career and experience.

“And many consultants think that the world ends at Glengormley,” said Mr Wells adding that many consultants are reluctant to leave the main hospitals in Belfast to take up vacancies elsewhere.

He highlighted a difficulty facing the Health Service unlike other public service professions such as the police.

“If the Chief Constable of the police says to a sergeant in Newry that he needs him to move to Strabane, that sergeant is not allowed to say ‘No I don’t want to leave Newry as there is a better chance for me to hone my skills here and get better experience’.

“But a consultant is allowed to do that. They can refuse to go to the hospital where they are needed but they should work where they are expected to work,” said Mr Wells.

MP for the area Gregory Campbell said that the Health Service, along with everyone else, is facing strong pressure with the forthcoming budget cuts.

However he said that Coleraine has a number of positives in its favour such as having an increased population of 200,000 during the summer months and also having a high level elderly population.

“I am not hearing anything negative at the moment but that does not diminish the need to be vigilant,” said Mr Campbell.

Chair of the meeting Cliodhna Rae said that she would advocate bringing in good, English-speaking migrant consultants to fill the vacancies.