Debate contribution: Bangor and Newtownards Minor Injury Units: Closure

Debate contribution by Mr Stephen Dunne on 30 April 2024.

MLA

Mr Stephen Dunne

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

30 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Bangor and Newtownards Minor Injury Units: Closure

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4487763

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter, and I thank the Member for securing the debate. I thank the Minister for his attendance. I know, Minister, that you have had a busy day, so thank you for staying with us this evening. I firmly believe that the decision to close the Bangor minor injury unit in 2020 and, subsequently, the Newtownards minor injury unit at the end of August 2023 was the wrong choice by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and the Department. The strength of feeling about the decision has been evident over the past number of years, including throughout the trust's consultation period, when over 80% of respondents spelled out their concerns loud and clear in writing, at the various public consultation events and through petitions. When the decision was taken in August 2023, there was already significant pressure on the Ulster's emergency department (ED), with official figures stating that the Ulster's emergency department was seeing 9,000 more patients than it had done five years previously. That was prior to the decision to close the Newtownards unit and not reopen the Bangor unit. It has been eight months since the closure of the Ards MIU, and, today, the Ulster's emergency department is under extreme pressure. I commend and pay tribute to the hard-working staff across our local health service in what are very challenging circumstances indeed. Those staff go well above and beyond the call of duty, in high-pressure environments, to provide excellent care 24/7, 365 days a year. I put on record our thanks to those dedicated staff who continue, no matter where they are, to give that commitment and dedication. That must be saluted. The commitment, promised for 2025, to open, as a second phase, a new urgent care centre, co-located with the new ED, was a key part of the transition process and, I suppose, a way to justify closing the two well-used and valued services. We have been writing regularly to the Minister on that matter, and I trust that plans for the urgent care centre will remain on target, as it is greatly needed. I welcome the fact that work is ongoing to ensure that it opens ASAP, and I hope that that will mean very early in 2025. There are genuine concerns across our areas about the size and capacity of the new emergency department at the Ulster. I know, from speaking to staff and even from personal experience, of the genuine concerns about the size and scale of the emergency department and about the external pressures on the site, such as the car parking capacity and the road infrastructure around the hospital estate. That road is very busy, as are the various networks in and out of the hospital. I am sure that everybody here will be familiar with the hospital. There are real issues with closing sites in the surrounding areas that we represent. The population of Ards and North Down was over 163,000 at the time of the 2021 census, which made it the fourth-largest local government district. That was an increase of 4·5% since the 2011 census, and, with people living longer, there is even greater pressure across all our health services. I appreciate that valuable services continue at the Bangor and Ards sites. Perhaps the Minister could spell out some of the services that are available at those sites. I visited Bangor Community Hospital around a year ago — I think that some colleagues were there as well — and it was very valuable to hear directly from the services that are still there. The message must go out that there are still services available there, including dentistry and some optician work, which are very valuable for local people of all ages. The South Eastern Trust confirmed recently that no savings were made as a result of the decision to close the Bangor and Ards MIUs. However, there is no doubt that people in my constituency feel short-changed by the Health Department and the trust. As detailed in the public consultation, the decision was not taken to make financial savings but rather to reshape and sustain urgent and emergency care services in the Ards and North Down area. However, I emphasise that there is a genuine feeling that there has been a reduction in the service since those valuable MIUs closed their doors. As we all know, there is significant pressure on our GPs as well.

Those GPs continue to face challenges. I thank the Minister for coming to the House, and I ask him to do all that he can to improve service provision for the people across Ards and North Down.

781 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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