Ongoing staff sickness absences has result in the periodic diversion of maternity patients from Daisy Hill Hospital to Craigavon in recent months.
Most recently, patients were diverted over the weekend, due to staff shortages.
Concerns have been raised by MLA Liz Kimmins, who has reached out to the Trust to seek assurances that the issue is being addressed.
“Chronic staff shortages are present across our entire health service, and it is therefore essential the Minister and the Department of Health (DoH) are working to address this urgently to protect both staff and patients,” said the Sinn Féin representative.
“The maternity team across Daisy Hill and Craigavon consistently work together to ensure the best care for mothers and babies, but it’s imperative that the staffing levels are safe across both sites and I will continue to seek assurances from the Minister and the DoH in relation to this.”
A spokesperson for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust told Armagh I: “We appreciate that the divert on maternity services at Daisy Hill Hospital at the weekend has raised some concerns.
“The Southern Trust provides an area wide maternity service, across the community and from our two hospital sites – Daisy Hill Hospital and Craigavon Area Hospital.
“Like many other specialties, in order to make the best use of our resources and maintain a safe service, the maternity team will initiate diverts between each hospital, during times of high demand or to manage workforce challenges.
“Due to ongoing issues with staff sickness absence, temporary diverts have been in place from Craigavon to Daisy Hill and from Daisy Hill to Craigavon, on a number of occasions since July.
“Most recently, due to difficulties in safely filling midwifery rotas, there was a divert in place from Daisy Hill to Craigavon Hospital for unplanned maternity admissions last weekend from Friday night (20th September) until Monday morning (23rd September).
“We have a highly skilled and compassionate maternity team and acknowledge their consistent commitment to mothers and babies in sometimes difficult circumstances.
“We are absolutely committed to ensuring the provision of safe, high quality maternity services across the Southern Trust, continually reviewing and taking account of national and regional policy guidelines.
“We are very mindful of the continuing workforce challenges across health and social care and Southern Trust is not immune from these.
“We appreciate the ongoing support of families and the public as we work through these challenges.”
