A REPORT published today is expected to recommend the closure of the Royal Maternity Hospital in west Belfast and the transfer of services to a new unit at the City Hospital. The maternity hospital is part of the Royal Group of Hospitals (formerly the Royal Victoria).
The report was prepared by a working party headed by the former chief medical officer, Dr James McKenna. It aims to rationalise health services in Belfast and reportedly also calls for the transfer of all accident and emergency services from the City to the Royal Group.
It is also believed to propose that heart surgery be provided only at the Royal and that a central fracture clinic be established in the hospital. GPs and midwives are angry that they were not consulted by the report's authors.
The SDLP MP Dr Joe Hendron is seeking an urgent meeting with the North's Health Minister, Mr Malcolm Moss, to discuss the report. "I am very concerned at its recommendations, especially the removal of maternity services frown the Royal.
"This is a disgraceful proposal. If implemented it will have grave social and economic implications and will inevitably lead to significant job losses. I am not prepared to stand by while one of our major health service assets is dismantled bit by bit."
Dr Raymond Shearer, chairman of the local medical committee, which represents 400 GPs in Belfast, criticised the composition of the 10 strong working party, only one of whom is in general practice.
"These proposals are meant to be about reorganisation and rationalisation. But too often for `rationalisation' read `rationing'," he said.
Mr Brendan McCarthy of the public service union, UNISON, warned of a "major union and public reaction" to the report. Staff at the Royal would not stand by and watch its "destruction", he warned.
Mr Gerry Adams said the report sounded the "death knell" for the Royal, which was at the heart of the west Belfast community. Its maternity hospital met the government criterion of 2,000 births a year, so it made no sense closing it, the Sinn Fein president said.
He claimed that other services would be transferred from the Royal, including respiratory medicine, the acclaimed breast disease unit, rheumatology treatment, and cystic fibrosis services for adults.
"The run down of the Royal's services is an attack on the quality of the health service available to the local community and also on the economic structure of west Belfast," Mr Adams said.
The Workers' Party accused the British government of "whittling away resources at the Royal Victoria and doing untold damage to Northern Ireland's premier health facility".