£500k upgrade a welcome boost to Daisy Hill
January 24, 2012
By Christine Keighery
In the wake of recent speculation regarding the future of Daisy Hill Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department, following December’s Compton Report, the news that the hospital is to receive a £500,000 upgrade to its Outpatients’ Department will be seen as a welcome boost.
The former Maternity and Gynae Outpatients Department is undergoing a complete renovation to become part of the General Outpatients service. The new Outpatient consulting rooms will provide the specialised environment needed for comprehensive ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) and Audiology Assessment and include a new sound booth. It will also house two permanent clinical rooms for Pre-Operative Assessment and there will be an additional two consulting rooms which will provide much needed clinical accommodation.
It is expected the new department will be ready for use by April.
Dr Gillian Rankin, Director of Acute Services for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said a number of outpatients attending Daisy Hill has increased by 12,000 in the past five years, thus sparking a real need to improve the accommodation to meet growing demand.
“We are delighted to be able to upgrade the accommodation and provide much more patient friendly facilities,” she said.
“This project is part of our continued development and modernisation programme at Daisy Hill Hospital. The refurbishment of the Emergency Department is also on-going and work to upgrade the water mains has begun on site. Staff are making every effort to keep disruption to a minimum and there is signage around the site to direct patients and visitors.
“We apologise for any inconvenience during this time but ask for co-operation and support from the public whilst we make these improvements to your hospital,” Dr Rankin added.
As some car parking spaces will be out of use whilst the work is on-going, the Trust recommends that people allow plenty of time when attending the hospital. An alternative option may also be to use the bus route (41) which stops outside the hospital from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
Despite this welcome investment, a question mark still remains over the future of acute services in Daisy Hill Hospital. A delegation of SDLP members met with Health Minister, Edwin Poots only last week to discuss the implications of the Compton Report.
Speaking after the meeting, Dominic Bradley MLA said he welcomed the recent investments and development at the hospital and felt that “these should be built upon and not diminished in any way”.
He added that investment had enabled the size of the A&E department to be doubled and confirmed that the Compton review recognised the excellent record of Daisy Hill’s emergency department. “These factors should be an important consideration in the future of services at the hospital,” Mr Bradley said.
