Public meeting organised in response to decision to remove emergency surgery from Daisy Hill

The meeting, organised by the SOS Daisy Hill committee, will be held in the Miller Suite of the Canal Court Hotel at 7pm on Wednesday, November 8, 2023. 

The committee said they were "shocked" at the decisions taken by the Southern Trust which, they say, "will have a serious detrimental impact on the quality of care for the largely rural areas of South Down and South Armagh". 

A statement from the committee said its members were "very dissatisfied with the Board's decisions as they have deliberately ignored the near 12,000 who had replied to the Public Consultation and the 10,000 who paraded in Newry to display their opposition to the health proposals.

"This blatant action to ignore the community’s total and complete opposition of what is seen as the downgrading of Daisy Hill Hospital is not acceptable and the committee want the people of our region to have the opportunity to discuss these proposals and once again and show their combined opposition to any proposals to transfer any medical services to Craigavon Area Hospital."

Their statement added that the SOS Daisy Hill committee will issue invitations to all political parties and ask them to nominate a representative to participate in this debate and invitations will also be issued to the Southern Health and Social Services Board, Future Ways Group , the Daisy Hill Expert Panel and other guest speakers. 

Francis Gallagher, Chairman of the SOS Daisy Hill committee, urged the general public to attend.

“I am calling on the community of Newry, south Down and south Armagh to vote with their feet and attend in large numbers the Public Meeting on November 8, 2023 at 7pm in the Canal Court Hotel," he said.

"Please avail of this opportunity to ask the questions on how major medical services are being transferred against the will of the people and why no evidence based data has been provided to support the decisions taken by the Southern Health and Social Services."