28/08/2026
Yesterday saw further discussion around the Northern Trustβs already-approved proposal to centralise Emergency General Surgery from Causeway Hospital to Antrim.
But the fundamental questions remain.
Reform is needed across Health and Social Care. But reform does not have to mean removal.
Our rural communities need and deserve access to acute hospital services. The continual erosion of services from Causeway Hospital has to stop.
We are repeatedly told these decisions are about clinical need, not money. Yet across HSC yesterday we saw enormous financial pressures and decisions to make βsavingsβ presented under the language of βReset and Reformβ.
Indeed, the Northern Trust itself has agreed to move other theatre activity from Whiteabbey and Mid Ulster to other hospital sites as part of its savings plans β explicitly focused on utilisation, productivity and reducing the number of theatre lists required, rather than clinical need or patient safety.
That wider context matters.
Workforce challenges and reliance on locums are clearly part of the discussion around Causeway Emergency General Surgery. If workforce is the problem, then address the workforce problem.
Invest in the workforce and build a sustainable service at Causeway.
Removing another acute service should not be the default answer.
Causeway needs investment in acute services β not managed decline.
The campaign continuesβ¦..
