Hospital on life support
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Antrim Council has demanded emergency talks on ‘crippling pressures’ at Antrim Area Hospital.
A Shocked Antrim Council has demanded emergency talks about the 'crippling pressures' which are threatening to bring the Accident and Emergency Unit to its knees.
Trolley waits have long been a fact of life at the hospital, but the closure of A&E departments at the Mid-Ulster, Whiteabbey and the City Hospitals have only compounded the problem.
In recent days the congestion was so bad that a dozen ambulances were forced to queue up and wait to drop off their delicate cargo because there was simply nowhere for the influx of new patients to go.
Sinn Fein councillor Annemarie Logue, who works in the City Hospital, said the soaring demands had left Antrim A&E resembling something from a 'Third World country', rather than a hospital at the bleeding edge of 2011 medicine.
Galvanised by community concern, the Council is seeking talks about the long-term future of the Department - and is demanding a 'warts and all' account free of corporate spin.
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