Daisy Hill Hospital: Several medical staff leave Newry site
- Published
Emergency general surgery was moved from Daisy Hill in February 2022
Several medical staff have "ended their tenure" at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, according to the Southern Health Trust.
A spokesperson for the trust said "recruiting and retaining enough medical staff has been a significant issue for the hospital".
The statement also said that recently the pressures have "escalated".
It is not clear whether the senior doctors have resigned or come to the end of their contracts.
Last year it emerged that Daisy Hill was to lose its capacity to provide emergency general surgery.
A Southern Health Trust board meeting was told at the time that the withdrawal of such surgery was an "interim" measure due to ongoing recruitment challenges.
Then, only two out of six general surgical consultant posts at the hospital had been filled, despite repeated recruitment processes.
That temporary move has since become permanent.
Emergency general surgery will be permanently moved from Daisy Hill Hospital to Craigavon Area Hospital under the plan.
The BBC understands that talks are ongoing between the Southern Health Trust and several specialist doctors about other posts in different hospitals.
The trust said the medical and senior trust management team continue to "look at every viable option to address these serious ongoing challenges and stabilise our workforce in Daisy Hill and our other hospitals".
It added that the regional and international shortage of consultants, difficulties recruiting middle-grade and junior doctors and the "serious over-reliance" on locum doctors are "matters of great concern" in meeting the increasing demands for acute medicine and providing stable medical staffing cover in its medical wards.
The trust said it is "working closely with the Department of Health and other regional colleagues on this urgent situation".
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