The Western Health and Social Care Trust has limited its Card Before You Leave initiative strictly to weekdays, ending weekend and bank holiday coverage for young patients assessed as low risk. While high-risk individuals still receive unchanged care, low-risk cases must now wait until the next working day for specialist follow-up. This operational shift comes as health authorities throughout Northern Ireland advance plans to reduce spending by up to 12% over three years. Local representatives and general practitioners continue to lobby for the immediate reversal of the cutback.
Key points
The reduction in mental health support hours stems from broader attempts to tackle an £80…: The reduction in mental health support hours stems from broader attempts to tackle an £800m healthcare deficit across Northern Ireland.
Local politicians and general practitioners argue that delayed care risks allowing manage…: Local politicians and general practitioners argue that delayed care risks allowing manageable low-risk cases to escalate into severe crises.
The Card Before You Leave initiative continues to provide full, unaltered service across…: The Card Before You Leave initiative continues to provide full, unaltered service across the four other Northern Ireland health trusts.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
- Published
Concerns have been raised over the reduction of a specialist mental health support service for children and young people in the north west.
The Card Before You Leave scheme ensures young people experiencing a mental health crisis who present at a hospital's emergency department are given a written appointment with specialists before leaving.
The Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) said due to financial pressures the scheme is now only operating on a Monday to Friday basis and not at all on weekends and bank holidays.
Londonderry GP Dr Joe McEvoy said the reduction was a further "chipping away at an already threadbare service".
"It's already difficult for families when they're dealing with a young person who is distressed to know how they should manage it," McEvoy told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.
In a statement, WHSCT said the reduction was introduced in August as "part of wider savings measures" and would remain under review.
It said the reduction in the scheme's operating hours applied only to young people "who present out of hours and…
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