Concerns have been raised about the future of maternity services in Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital

Concerns have been raised about the future of maternity services in Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital.

The Northern Health Trust is proposing to move most of Coleraine’s maternity provision to Antrim Hospital.

The Trust held a public meeting in Portrush to explain its proposal. Senior doctors and midwives said the number of births in Coleraine is in sharp decline whilst the number of older people is rising year on year.

According to the Trust, this means Coleraine’s current maternity services model is unsustainable and has to change. 

But residents from the Coleraine district confronted Trust management at last night’s meeting, expressing their concerns that a vital service could disappear from their area.

They claimed it would inconvenience expectant mothers - many from lower income families- who would face long and costly journeys to antenatal clinics and deliveries.

Their relatives would also have to travel further to visit newborn babies and their mums. 

A number of people even claimed that reducing maternity provision in Coleraine could put young mothers and their babies at risk if their babies delivered early. 

The meeting was sparsely attended, attracting fewer than 20 members of the public.

One person suggested the audience would have been much larger if the Trust had hosted the event in Coleraine, the town most affected by the proposal. 

The Northern Trust moved to allay any concerns about its plan, and said that it’s maternity services had to evolve to meet current needs. 

The Trust is weighing up two options:

1) move all consultant-led births to Antrim and leave a small midwifery-led unit in Coleraine;

or

2) simply move all births to Antrim. 

The Trust has already approved the business case for a new £200 million unit at Antrim Hospital to provide maternity and paediatric services. 

A major change in health care provision would normally require ministerial approval. But the absence of a functioning Executive in Stormont means Northern Ireland has no Health Minister right now, so giving the green light to this project could well fall to the Department of Health. 

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