Fearghal McKinney-SDLP.
FOURTEEN patients every week are being transferred out of the South West Acute Hospital to other hospitals for treatment, the Fermanagh Herald has learned.
The Department of Health has stated that up to 770 patients across all of the SWAH’s wards were moved to different hospitals across the North last year.
The figures came to light after SDLP MLA, Fearghal McKinney, a Fermanagh native, raised the issue with the health minister, Mervyn Storey at the Northern Ireland Assembly.
While the health minister detailed the type of treatment patients were undergoing, he stopped short of giving the reason of the referral because that information “is not collected centrally”.
“We have been hearing that a lot of services were being curtailed,” he told the Fermanagh Herald.
“Some services in Enniskillen, including elective care, are either not going ahead or being cancelled.
“It’s a new hospital and people were very pleased when it was built and it signalled a new beginning for local people. But it’s worrying when you find out that some of the services are no longer available and they have been moved to places like Derry.
“We want to make sure that people in Fermanagh are getting the best services that are available too.
“It is concerning that so many patients are being moved on from a brand new hospital that was to be the centre of excellence.
“The general picture seems to be that they are centralising things and the rural communities will suffer because of this.
“Things tend to disappear under the radar by osmosis and suddenly but slowly we will discover particular services are gone. I think people in Fermanagh should be aware of that and start to ask questions about their local health care. People should know that there are attempts to diminish services in rural communities without providing backup care.
“Transforming Your Care was about bringing services to rural areas but now everything appears to be moved by the pound.”
Patients moved between January 1, 2014, and December 31:
General surgery 119
Anaesthetics 16
General medicine 232
Rehabilitation 2
Cardiology 183
Paediatrics 25
Geriatric medicine 67
Obstetrics 21
Gynaecology 4
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