The Western Health and Social Care Trust is preparing to bring a consultation on permanently withdrawing emergency general surgery from the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen.
The Trust suspended the service temporarily from the hospital in November 2022, citing concerns over patient safety due to an inability to recruit a safe number of consultants, with patients having to travel or be transferred more than 50 miles away to Altnagelvin instead.
The move sparked anger in the local community in Co Fermanagh, with the Trust saying at the time it had no plans to permanently withdraw the service.
A review of the decision to suspend the service in 2022 is being carried out by the independent Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority.
An update to the Trust’s Corporate Risk Register in June notes that: “Temporary suspension remains in place with Trust now in the preparatory stages to move to consultation on a permanent change delivery model.”
When questioned about this, the Trust said a formal proposal to its board had not yet been submitted or discussed at a meeting of the Trust board.
Hospital campaign group Save Our Acute Services spokesperson, Donal O’Cofaigh called on local political representatives to back the group’s demand for a roadmap for restoring surgery at the hospital.
“Since the loss of emergency and acute surgery from SWAH, our community has suffered second class access to vital and life-saving treatment,” Mr O’Cofaigh said.
“We have spoken to hundreds of families who have suffered significantly due to this unsafe inadequate provision.
“We need to see urgent action to reverse this. We welcome the recent growing calls for a roadmap for restoration of this vital service by our political representatives and ask all MLAs and indeed the Council to get behind this demand.”
A spokesperson for the Western Trust said: “In line with Change and Withdrawal of Services Guidance, the Western HSC Trust is considering the future position of Emergency General Surgery across the Trust.
“The Western HSC Trust, supported by the Department of Health, remains committed to the long-term sustainability and development of the SWAH.
“This includes building elective capacity, developing a safe and sustainable model for general surgery across the Trust, working collaboratively at local and regional level to identify opportunities for strategic development and ensuring a sustainable workforce.”
