Hospital to lose acute services

The Hayes Review recommended the proposal

Life-saving emergency and surgical services at Tyrone County hospital are to be lost following proposals by the Department of Health.

The proposal to strip the hospital in Omagh of its acute facilities is contained in a consultation document due to be issued on Wednesday

Last year, when the Hayes team reported on acute hospitals they said a new hospital should be built in Enniskillen and that acute services in Omagh should be withdrawn.

Wednesday's report is expected to accept that finding.

Bairbre de Brun: Minister for Health

In 1996, Northern Ireland had 19 acute hospitals which had full accident and emergency units and the facilities to carry out life-saving surgery.

In the years since then there have been a series of reports from the Department of Health and from the health boards, all recommending the number should be cut.

In that time four acute hospitals have closed - Ards, Banbridge, South Tyrone in Dungannon, which was supposedly a temporary measure, and the Route in Ballymoney which shut when the new Causeway hospital opened at Coleraine.

Wednesday's report is also expected to agree with the Hayes suggestion for the downgrading of a number of other hospitals.

The Department of Health is expected to emphasise that these hospitals will continue to provide a range of services for their local populations, such as diagnostic tests, out-patient clinics and accident and emergency departments.

However, in many places these will be run by nurses instead of doctors.