MLA ‘on the floor’ with child during visit to Causeway A&E

An MLA has described how he and his child were forced to wait “on the floor” during a visit to Causeway Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED).

Alan Robinson recounted his experience to senior Northern Trust officials during a Stormont Committee meeting, called to discuss winter pressures and significant savings demanded by the Department of Health.

Under scrutiny was the Trust’s decision to withdraw Causeway Hospital’s Phone First service in a bid to save £500,000.

The telephone triage system was designed to reduce unnecessary visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) by providing advice to patients on appropriate alternative care options.

On Thursday, Northern Trust interim chief executive, Suzanne Pullins told the Committee she’d been told to "pause the formal withdrawal to allow for reassessment" following an intervention from the Minister.

Mr Robinson described the pause as “a positive move” in the face of impending winter pressures and the Trust’s own acknowledgment withdrawal would result in more ED visits

“Given that the cessation date was going to be in late November, a time in which things were going to ratchet up within EDs, I felt it was the wrong move,” he said.

“I know that in recent times when I was in ED with a child, certainly in the front section, there was a bit of capacity there but, in the children’s section which I was subsequently moved into, both my child and I were on the floor, such were the pressures on that children’s section that evening.”

In response, Ms Pullins said she was sorry to hear of Mr Robinson’s experience.

“That wouldn’t be what we’d want, as you know,” she added. She went on to explain how the Trust wished to work with primary care and pharmacies to alleviate the strain on ED

She also pointed out that Phone First had only ever operated during office hours Monday to Friday

“Some of our pressures in the ED are into the evening and during the weekend and we do, like everyone who runs and emergency department, have peaks and troughs – peak at 11am, peak at3pm and peak at teatime

“We do our very best to make sure that people are streamed into Minor Injuries and minor work streams so that we leave our core emergency service to respond to emergencies”.

The committee later heard 65 per cent of Phone First users ended up in either the ED or the Minor Injuries Unit anyway.

Meanwhile, withdrawal wold save £500,000 at a time when the Trust was being asked to make savings of almost £54m per year.

The Trust considered withdrawal “the least worst” option, the committee heard.

Phone First was initially introduced during the pandemic in late 2020 to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among patients in crowded hospital waiting rooms.

Under the system, patients call before travelling to hospital to check if they really need to go to an ED or if they could be treated elsewhere

It was trialled in Causeway Hospital before being gradually rolled out across all five hospital trust areas.

A Northern health Trust spokesperson told the Chronicle: “In light of the Minister’s intervention, we have paused the standing down of the Phone First service within the Northern Trust to allow for further discussion.

“The decision to stand down our Phone First service on Friday 27 November was taken by our Trust Board in August as part of wider measures to achieve financial savings of 4% within the current financial year, as instructed by the Department of Health.”