Farmers For Action urge rural dwellers to deliver hospital consultation responses before next week's deadline

Farmers For Action’s Steering Committee are urging farming families and rural dwellers to respond to the Hospital Network Consultation – ‘creating a network for better outcomes’ before February 28.

FFA representatives, members of SOS Rural Hospitals, Daisy Hill Newry, SWAH Enniskillen and Causeway Coleraine and others have been objecting to a shutting down of rural hospital acute services and others since the end of COVID.

William Taylor stated: “Top NHS management civil servants are behaving like a runaway train to shut down rural services for their own promotional benefits with increased salaries and pensions by pushing centralisation plus the hidden agenda of pushing people to private sector health care.

"Please use the following in your response in writing (address below) before 28^th February - Farming families across Northern Ireland work daily in one of the most dangerous industries across these islands and as such having to travel one hour, two hours plus in an ambulance will lose yet more lives going forward. With serious farm accidents or others therefore, we must under no circumstances, let these non-caring top civil servants in the NHS away with shutting down acute services at our local hospitals, instead, we want them reinstated and enhanced.

"Consider one of our own had a bad accident and a bleed-out or heart attack where all Doctors agree on the golden hour maximum to save lives, then you can understand that a trip from Enniskillen to Altnagelvin is not acceptable, a trip from Annalong to Craigavon is not acceptable, a trip from Coleraine to Antrim Hospital is not acceptable. This is our response to an uncalled for consultation.”

The postal address to respond to before February 28 is Hospital Network Consultation FAO Roisin Kelly, Annex 3, Public Consultation Services, Castle Buildings, Belfast BT4 3SQ.