The panel at the healthcare meeting.
HEALTH care in Fermanagh is facing its biggest shake-up in history as health officials attempt to find £30m in savings which they say will impact on waiting times, clinical services and staffing levels, it has emerged.
The grim outlook for health and social care in the county was laid bare at a Patient and Client Council meeting where people from across Fermanagh put their questions and concerns to the key leaders and decision makers of local health care.
Joe Lusby, who is the deputy chief executive of the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT), issued a stark warning over the magnitude of the financial challenges, including a £30m overspend which, he says, will be a first for the trust.
Dozens of people attended the health meeting at the South West College where a wide range of issues over the future of local services were mooted.
The deepening problems hitting our hospitals and health services were echoed by members of the audience who included health staff, representatives of carers and family members speaking on behalf of service users.
The panel for the Enniskillen event included Richard Pengally who is the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS), Dean Sullivan, director of commissioning for the trust, a post he has held for the last four years, and Doctor Ciaran Mullan who is chairman of the Western Local Commissioning Group.
They revealed some of the areas which will be hit by the looming cuts:
• Increased waiting times for access to clinical services
• Non-urgent patients will have to wait longer
•WHSCT did not secure recurrent funding for identified additional nursing staff
• Fears over lack of funding to deal with the totality of the challenges facing the health trust
Mr Lusby, who has worked in the health care system for 40 years, said he has never faced “these significant challenges in my time”.
“For the first time, the Western Trust will overspend on its budget in a small number of areas, including approximately £7m on agency and locum staff,” he added.
“There is no way we can remove £30 million from our budget and not impact on service provision.
“We identify projecting an £30m overspend and we have always balanced our books. This is the first year we will not balance them.
“There has to be £26m of savings within our budget and the Western Trust is likely to overspend £3.5m in domicilliary care.”
Mr Sullivan stated there was a lot of anxiety surrounding the systems in terms of the services provided by the trust but said that the SWAH accident & emergency ward is the best performing in the North, with 97 per cent of people seen to within four hours.
It was also revealed that the trust has plans to reduce waiting times for highest priority to nine weeks but added that this will impact on those that aren’t as big a priority.
“The trust leadership met with staff this morning (Thursday) to outline the magnitude of the financial challenges facing the Western Trust. Some non-urgent and more routine patients may have to wait longer than would have been the case,” Mr Lusby added.
Mr Pengally concluded that the reality of the current financial circumstances will leave longer waiting times for access to clinical services.
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