‘Belfast most over medicated city in UK’ blasts councillor on Newry hospital plans

The controversial remarks were raised in chambers following the approval of a council response to a Department of Health (DoH) consultation.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) has this week stated it has “strongly disagreed” with Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s (UUP) plans to change Daisy Hill’s status to a general hospital.

Newry SDLP councillor, Killian Feehan said: “We had called for DoH to facilitate an in person, public information session in Newry. And they didn’t do that and I think that created a sense of anger locally that people weren’t being heard, listened to or even worse the department had no interest in what local people were saying.

“I am very reassured this council has taken the stance it has. The consultation response is very, very strong.

“It doesn’t just speak to the need to have an area hospital in Newry for the sake of having one.

“It speaks to the very pronounced and demonstrable need that we have in this town and in this district.”

Under Department of Health plans the South West Acute Hospital, Daisy Hill and the Causeway in Coleraine are to become ‘General’ hospitals.

A proposed new network would retain the current model of four categories: Area, general, local hospitals and regional centres. Area hospitals are NI’s largest hospitals, offering emergency and planned treatment, with 24-hour emergency departments, paediatrics, obstetrics, specialised clinical teams and critical care.

General hospitals would include unscheduled care, but geared to a specific more isolated geographical location. Local hospitals would continue to offer a broad mix of community services including diagnostic and mental health support, but if they are to remain open, they will have to justify that they meet their population’s needs and are cost effective.

Regional centres would deal with the likes of breast cancer, strokes, cataracts, and neurology, with the aim of reducing hospital waiting times.

Daisy Hill in Newry is set to permanently lose its emergency general surgery element and become a general hospital under DoH hospital network reconfiguration plan.

Cllr Feehan had previously brought forward a proposal (Feb 2025) to seek assistance from the Republic of Ireland to save Daisy Hill’s medical services and become a cross border area hospital.

He added: “It’s actually quite a powerful statement at the end of the consultation response…that the location of the five proposed area hospitals with 24/7 Level One emergency departments are concentrated within a 30min drive of Belfast and in Derry.

“I think the proposals DoH have made aren’t terribly well thought out in terms of providing access to care for people in all parts of the North and I think what our council has done is stepped into that space left by DoH, who did not have the public meeting. And our council has presented the views of local people very clearly and fed it in to the consultation.”

The earlier motion had also called for a public meeting with DoH in Newry, but this has not yet happened.

However, a DoH public meeting was scheduled to take place in the Armagh City Hotel on Tuesday 18 February.

Questioning the council response, Mournes DUP rep Henry Reilly asked: “I just want clarification why we have said we ‘strongly disagree’ with the (DoH) proposals?”

A council officer responded: “It was the interpretation from council, in our officers’ view that Daisy Hill hospital should be treated as an area hospital and that’s why we strongly disagree.

“That is outlined as the council calls on DoH to engage with the Irish government to identify mechanisms for establishing Daisy Hill as a cross border area hospital.”

Committee chairperson Cadogan Enright (Alliance) added: "Just to make my own point, I think Belfast City is the most over medicated city in the UK.

“There is no other city that has more than two facilities within such a small area as Belfast City.”

Due to the timing of the consultation deadline (Feb 28) NMDDC provided a draft response, which has now been approved by the sustainability and environment committee.