A leading surgeon has said failing to modernise surgical services could risk making staff pressures and patient outcomes in Northern Ireland worse.
It comes after Mike Nesbitt resigned as health minister following a row with UUP leader Jon Burrows over withdrawing emergency general surgery (EGS) from Causeway Hospital.
A letter, signed by surgeons from across the UK and Ireland, said they felt they had no option but to intervene when it appeared politics not patient safety was influencing discussions around EGS provision.
Surgeon Damian McKay said they are “concerned, disappointed and frustrated”, after the fallout.
Those against the plan worry it could lead to other services being withdrawn.
McKay told BBC News NI: “The key message should always be patient safety first and political votes second.”
He said failing to modernise could mean prolonging existing workforce pressures, limits access to care and widens inequalities in patient outcomes.
The letter expressed support for planned changes including EGS as well as changes to rotas, improvements in ambulance access and making improvements to several areas to support patient services.
The new Health Minister Robbie Butler said his decisions will be based on “expert evidence opinion” as well as the “voices of the people”.
McKay, who is a general and colorectal surgeon at the Ulster Hospital, was speaking on behalf of the three surgical associations.
Burrows had declared he would never support the withdrawal of the EGS service during a public meeting, a view Nesbitt said he only discovered by “monitoring the media”.
The surgeons said “recent developments” risked further delaying the implementation of the 2022 review of EGS services in Northern Ireland, which recommended having the service at fewer sites.
For almost two decades there have been serious issues around recruitment and retaining specialist staff in NI. That includes surgeons, nurses, anaethetists.
Several informed and independent reports have over the years sited that NI has too many hospitals and not enough specialists to staff them.
Surgeons have said that failing to make decisions about transformation has left vacuums in areas where the public say they feel ignored and under threat.
Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, McKay said: “If you know that service reform can lead to a more stable, safer service, then we need to collectively work towards that to ensure patients get safe care and essentially that premise is well understood and well known.
“It has taken place already throughout Northern Ireland and many other trust areas and I think the importance of this is really to show and support the services here, to do the right thing for patients.”
The statement is from surgeons from the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, the Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland.
