By Julie Waters
FEARS are high that further health services are being ‘stripped’ from the Ards peninsula following the eight week suspension of an antenatal clinic in Portaferry.
Expectant mothers, who would regularly attend the town’s surgery for their appointments, are now being told to travel to Ards Hospital for the next two months.
Following the shock clinic suspension, Strangford MLA Michelle McIlveen is to call on Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to ensure the clinic is reopened as a ‘matter of urgency’.
The South Eastern Health Trust has blamed low attendances for the decision.
It is understood that while there are antenatal clinics held in both nearby Ballywalter and Kircubbin surgeries, these can only be attended by expectant mothers registered with each practice.
Portaferry councillor Joe Boyle has slammed the ‘unacceptable’ clinic suspension as an ‘all time low within health provision’ saying rural mothers now faced additional financial and travel pressures.
The SDLP councillor said the Trust’s decision to transfer Portaferry patients to Ards Hospital was ‘another price to pay for rural dwellers’ and the Ards peninsula’.
He also expressed concerns that the clinic suspension could lead to a permanent closure as Portavogie antenatal clinic had been suspended ‘eight years ago and it never opened again’.
Outlining the additional pressures now faced by expectant months, Mr Boyle said: “There are antenatal appointments at 16, 24, 28, 31, 34, 36, 38 weeks and at full term.
“The cost of these appointments for mothers on public transport will be £11.50 return on the bus and that is not including the costs for any children they may have to bring with them.
“Mothers will now have to cope with nine or ten 40-mile round trips with associated travel costs, as well as the additional cost of getting children collected from school and looked after.
“In the third trimester it may not be comfortable for expectant mothers to travel on a bus for over an hour and with the bus service being so infrequent it can take up most of the day when mothers are advised to rest more and avoid stress. And if this is a woman’s first pregnancy you do not want to be taken out of your community where you are known and feel safe and secure.”
Mr Boyle said it was ‘simply unacceptable’ to impose these changes on pregnant women when ‘everything was working fine within the current structure in Portaferry’.
“It appears that this is a cost saving exercise, and if it is a cut to services, we look as if we have hit an all time low within health provision.”
Said Mr Boyle: “Closing the antenatal unit in Portaferry carries significant and harmful consequences for maternal health, equality of access, and community resilience.
“Given the Peninsula’s rural geography, limited transport links relocating essential maternity services to Newtownards disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable and undermines safe, accessible care.”
Alderman Robert Adair also voiced his concerns saying: “I am very concerned about the situation, we live in a rural area and it is over a long round trip for expectant mothers to travel to Newtownards to avail of antenatal services.
“Certainly for local people the transport links are not great and NISRA statistics suggest a lot of people in the Ards peninsula do not have access to a car which makes travel difficult. We have a 21st century health centre in Portaferry and it is vital it is utilised to provide services at the point of need.
“My party colleague Michelle McIlveen will be asking the Health Minister why this clinic has been closed for an eight week period and when it is going to be reestablished as a matter of urgency.”
