Rural health campaigners urge Northern Ireland to protect rural services
Summarised from BBC Northern Ireland's report · Updated 19 Oct, 06:49 · Archive
Four hospital campaign groups have warned that rural communities face being cut off from vital hospital services.
Four hospital campaign groups in Northern Ireland have written jointly to the Executive calling for a cross-departmental working group on rural health access. Save Our Acute Services (SOAS), SoS Causeway Hospital group, Save Our Services Daisy Hill and the Down Community Health committee signed the letter, warning that rural communities face being cut off from timely access to acute and other vital hospital services.
The campaigners say that past healthcare decisions have been framed as 'purely operational or clinical, with too little cross-departmental scrutiny'. Donal O'Cofaigh from SOAS, based in County Fermanagh, said it is 'vital' that executive ministers collectively consider decisions about removing services from local hospitals. Emergency general surgery was permanently removed from Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry in 2024, after being temporarily suspended in February 2022.
In 2024, former Health Minister Mike Nesbitt proposed a new hospital network which would see healthcare services spread and shared across counties, with patients expected to travel further for specialist treatment.
Read the report
- Rural lives cannot be an 'afterthought', healthcare campaigners sayCampaigners warn that rural communities face being cut off from vital hospital services.BBC Northern Ireland · 19 Oct, 06:10
In this story: Save Our Acute Services · Daisy Hill Hospital · Northern Ireland · County Fermanagh · Newry · Donal O'Cofaigh · Mike Nesbitt
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