Coronavirus: Regional approach approved for NI surgeries

Surgeries will take place for those most in need when available hospital capacity becomes available, the health minister has announced.

In a written statement, Robin Swann said he had approved a new regional approach which may mean patients have to travel to different health trusts.

He said he would rather some treatments are "delivered elsewhere in Northern Ireland than not at all".

The strategy comes ahead of an expected rise in Covid-19 patients.

On Thursday, the Belfast Health Trust said it had no other option but to cancel urgent cancer surgeries.

• Families 'devastated' by cancer surgery cancellation

BBC News NI reported that the trust expected many hundreds of new coronavirus patients in the next three weeks, with the demand for bed space understood to be "highly significant".

The Northern, Western, Southern, and South Eastern trusts have also said they are cancelling planned surgeries.

On Friday, the department of health's dashboard indicated there were 641 Covid-19 positive inpatients in hospitals across NI.

'No prioritisation'

Mr Swann said the most recent modelling and hospital numbers indicated the "peak of the third surge is expected in the third week of January 2021".

The new approach unveiled on Friday was "not the case of prioritising one medical condition over another", his statement added.

"I want to assure the public that hospitals are doing their absolute best to care for patients, and that includes treating the sickest quickest."

Mark Taylor said the strategy would give hope to people who feared their surgeries would be cancelled

Mark Taylor, NI director of the Royal College of Surgeons, welcomed the announcement of "much greater regional collaboration" and said it will "give hope to those patients already affected by the cancellations".

"It's vital we use capacity wherever we have it, including in the independent sector," he said.

"Some patients and medical staff may have to travel to other hospitals.

"By working together we can make sure those most urgently in need, for example those awaiting cancer or heart surgery, get treatment regardless of where they live."

'Deep regret'

In his statement, the health minister also said "an even greater number of staff will have to be redeployed" to meet the "urgent and immediate needs of extremely ill patients".

He said the new regional approach would benefit patients "most in need of surgery both during surge and as we come out of this surge".

Alongside redeployments, he said the health service would "fully maximise" its own resources and capacity in the independent health sector.

"I deeply regret any patient experiencing postponements of this nature," he explained.

"The unfortunate reality is that a health service that struggles to cope in normal times is not built to withstand a pandemic of this scale."