The local Councillor also commended the staff at Lagan Valley Hospital for their dedication and commitment to providing high quality healthcare provision despite the uncertainty of the current situation.
Councillor Stephen Martin said: “The sudden announcement by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in the mouth of Christmas that local Accident and Emergency provision would be curtailed further so that the Emergency Department at Lagan Valley Hospital would no longer be opened at weekends due to a lack of doctors has caused a lot of concern in the local community.
“Nearly three years later the process has still not been completed with the Downe Hospital model which was held up as an example of best practice has been similarly afflicted. These are complex issues but people have a right to be kept properly informed without being led up the garden path.’
“It speaks volumes that all parties represented on Lisburn Council unanimously backed the motion ensuring all party support for our local hospital and sending a message to the Trust that there is unity of purpose amongst elected representatives with staff and those who have ever had cause to be a patient at Lagan Valley.”
Councillor Jennifer Coulter, who seconded the motion, added: “We are particularly pleased that Council backed the motion acknowledging staff members who continue under difficult circumstances to provide our community with the best possible healthcare. We need to have their back by not sounding off for the sake of it but by actually engaging with the root causes and challenging current assumptions.”