{"id":1158491,"date":"2026-08-20T01:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T01:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1158491\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T01:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T01:38:35","slug":"causeway-hospital-row-forces-tipping-point-in-how-crucial-reform-of-ni-health-service-will-be-handled-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1158491\/","title":{"rendered":"Causeway Hospital row forces \u2018tipping point\u2019 in how crucial reform of NI health service will be handled \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Nesbitt\u2019s sudden resignation this week<\/a> ultimately came down to the fate of just one of the many hospitals under his remit – Causeway in Coleraine.<\/a> <\/p>\n

In recent years, it has been the move to consolidate maternity services at Antrim Area Hospital and a plan to do the same for Emergency General Surgery that has provoked anger among an energised campaign group<\/a> and most local representatives. <\/p>\n

The Northern Trust say it is essential to maintain services, but the final decision rests with the health minister, who ever that may be.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the same dynamic has been playing out for years at Enniskillen\u2019s South West Acute hospital<\/a>, where EGS has been moved over 50 miles away to Altnagelvin in Derry.<\/p>\n

\"Co<\/a>\"Noah<\/a><\/p>\n

Campaigners have made clear they will never be convinced it is the right decision and the majority of MLAs wanting to return to Stormont next year aren\u2019t going to say otherwise.<\/p>\n

Jon Burrows\u2019 typically provocative style saw him declare at last week\u2019s townhall meeting in Coleraine that he will fight to keep EGS in Coleraine, leaving Mike Nesbitt blindsided and unwilling to stay. <\/p>\n

\"UUPUUP leader Jon Burrows holds a press conference in the Great Hall at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, regarding the resignation of Health Minister Mike Nesbitt. PICTURE: JONATHAN PORTER\/PRESSEYE<\/p>\n

(Jonathan Porter \/ Press Eye) <\/p>\n

The Alliance Party\u2019s Kellie Armstrong called this a cynical and populist stunt that was damaging to the health service, while the SOS Causeway campaign group now fully expect the incoming health minister to act on their demands.<\/p>\n

Streamlining hospital services had been a key part of Mr Nesbitt\u2019s efforts in office, asking patients to travel further to where expertise and resources can be concentrated.<\/p>\n

His Reset Plan also seeks to shift more hospital services into community settings.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe SOS Causeway group have long campaigned against changes to moving maternity and emergency general services away from Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital. <\/p>\n

The question now is whether that momentum will shift towards the vote winning, but not necessarily life saving, option of preserving a broader range of services in sites like Coleraine, SWAH and the Downe Hospital in Downpatrick.<\/p>\n

A more detailed response from Jon Burrows on Wednesday morning said that while clinical evidence was crucial, \u201creform cannot simply be done to communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere must be genuine engagement with the clinicians and staff delivering services and with the people who depend on them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe we have got that balance right, and the strength of feeling around Causeway shows what happens when communities feel decisions are arriving rather than being made with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Alan Stout (BMA\/PA) <\/p>\n

Dr Alan Stout is chair of the BMA\u2019s Northern Ireland council and said hospital reform was too often presented as an attack on rural communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis obviously came to a head over EGS at Causeway Hospital, but in the greater scheme of the entire health service it is a relatively small part of the bigger and more rapid transformation that we need,\u201d he told The Irish News.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody, without fail, agrees on the need for change but we\u2019re stuck on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is worrying that even a relatively small change is creating a crisis with the resignation of the health minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

The uncertainty of having a caretaker minister until next year\u2019s Assembly election, he added, was concerning. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have winter coming, pay disputes, the threat of industrial action and some important legislation that is supposed to be going through the Assembly like the Adult Protection and the Safe working Bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real kind of tipping point as to what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

UUP leader Jon Burrows has criticised how health service reform is being implemented in Northern Ireland after his own party\u2019s minister for the sector quit amid a row with him.<\/p>\n

Health minister Mike Nesbitt resigned on Tuesday after a fallout with Mr Burrows over the proposed\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Rf7cnLSvKc<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Irish News (@irish_news) August 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With regards to Emergency General Surgery, he said it was clear across the UK and the wider western world that it is better to separate elective (planned) and emergency general surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need dedicated centres with lots of expertise, big teams, access to diagnostics, access to recovery and rotas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the entrenched pattern of MLAs unwilling to change local services, he said: \u201cI do have a degree of the sympathy with the campaign groups and local politicians, I think to break the cycle we need a much better articulation of the plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about losing things and services, what we need is for the transformation of health services to be multi-factorial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means you bolster a lot of services whilst potentially taking parts away to make them better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what people don\u2019t see, they only see things being taken away in a crisis environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in fairness to a lot of people who campaign against it, the problem is that it hasn\u2019t been explained well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Causeway Hospital in Coleraine. PICTURE: MARGARET MCLAUGHLIN (MARGARET MCLAUGHLIN COPYRIGHT \/ )