The terrifying night Natasha Daryaie was rushed 40 miles to hospital
A woman in her early thirties was driven to an emergency hospital by ambulance while experiencing contractions every few minutes, only to discover that her local maternity unit had no capacity to accept her prematurely. Natasha Daryaie, who now calls the experience “scary”, described the ordeal in detail. Her midwife from Daisy Hill Hospital travelled with her to Ulster Hospital in Craigavon, where she spent four nights before being stabilised and eventually sent home. The journey, which required her to travel approximately 40 miles (64km), became a stark illustration of the challenges faced by women in rural areas when local services fall short. What began as a routine delivery was turned into a crisis when the Southern Health Trust could not accommodate her needs at Daisy Hill, forcing a cross-community transfer that left many mothers worrying about the consequences for their babies.
A staffing crisis that forced the consolation
The decision to move inpatient maternity care from Daisy Hill to Craigavon has been driven by a deepening workforce shortage that has crippled the region’s ability to provide safe obstetric care. The trust has identified a critical gap, with five vacant consultant obstetrician posts across the borough, preventing Daisy Hill from operating at full capacity. As chief executive Steve Spoerry explained to Stormont’s Health Committee, the situation is urgent: the hospital cannot provide a safe maternity service without the required medical cover, and neither facility has enough consultants to staff both units’ daytime and out-of-hours rotas. The plan involves temporarily consolidating births and inpatient care at Craigavon, starting from 23 November, while the trust continues recruitment efforts for Daisy Hill. However, the move has sparked fierce opposition from local families who argue that geography should not determine the quality of care available to expectant mothers.
Families’ fears and the demand for better planning
For Natasha Daryaie and other Newry residents, the episode is more than a personal tragedy—it represents a broader crisis in rural health infrastructure. Seanan Martin, mother of two, shared his experience of being forced to travel an additional hour from Craigavon to reach Daisy Hill, a journey that would have been impossible if the transfer had not been arranged at all. “What does it say if a woman can’t give birth in her own city?” he asked. His wife, Naomi, recently delivered her third child at Daisy Hill, but only after the critical first hours were spent navigating the cross-country transfer. The mother of three, Mark Annett, expressed similar concerns about the practical realities of emergency care. “I don’t think we would have made it to Daisy Hill from home, never mind Craigavon,” he warned. “My fear would be what would happen to my wife and our baby if it was born halfway to Craigavon and we had to go over the mountains.” These voices have united in a call for better workforce planning and more investment in rural maternity units, arguing that the current approach of simply moving services around is not a sustainable solution.
Medical experts weigh in on the strain and future of maternity care
The Royal College of Midwives in Northern Ireland has sounded an alarm, with Dale Spence, director, stating that the region should not rely on the goodwill of midwives to keep services running. “More midwives are required to provide the care that women deserve,” Spence said, noting that the system is under such pressure that staff feel “working with their hands tied behind their back.” The trust has acknowledged that the withdrawal of emergency general surgery from Daisy Hill in 2024 forced a change in risk-stratification procedures, which has reduced the number of women deemed suitable for elective Caesarean sections and led to a decline in overall birth numbers. Midwives like Mark Annett have described the situation as overwhelming, with the system stretched to its limits. “I don’t think we would have made it,” he reflected. Experts are now calling for a more proactive approach to recruiting and retaining obstetrician consultants, as well as greater investment in community midwifery to support patients before they reach hospital.
Why it Matters
The consolidation of maternity services from Daisy Hill to Craigavon reveals a fundamental tension in the NHS between the need for specialist care and the reality of rural geography, where distance can determine whether a life is saved or lost. For mothers in the Newry area, the fear is that losing local inpatient maternity services will mean longer, more perilous journeys to care, potentially endangering both mothers and babies during critical moments of labour. The incident underscores how workforce shortages at both hospitals have created a ripple effect that transcends individual facilities, forcing communities to compromise on the safety and accessibility of essential healthcare. Without a comprehensive strategy to address these staffing gaps and to invest in building more resilient local services, the consequences for vulnerable populations will only grow more severe.
