THE future of services at the South West Acute Hospital are in the spotlight again this week following the publication of another report on transforming healthcare here. 

One trade union official has told the Herald that “without doubt” the Bengoa report raises concerns about the level of treatments that will be available in Enniskillen.  

“The future of SWAH remains a major concern. It is now getting quite serious,” they said.

 

Health Minister Michelle O’Neill has responded with a ten year action plan to tackle a health system at “breaking point”. She has put the focus on cutting waiting lists, improving services and caring for our ageing population.  

 

There is also a stark warning that services must prove their viability with a move away from hospital-centred care to a more ‘integrated model’. Put simply, this could mean more investment enhanced services at GP surgeries to ease pressure on acute hospitals.

 

With a further review of stroke services in the pipeline next year, this has led to renewed fears over SWAH’s facilities, which are among the best performing in Europe. While the Western Trust has repeatedly stressed that it intends to keep the local stroke unit open, the fear is that any new review may take it out of its hands.   

 

Furthermore, with the new £105m hospital in Omagh due to open in the spring, it is feared that two major hospitals within a 25-mile radius cannot be sustainable in the long run.  

 

SDLP Richie McPhillips says he remains concerned that more cuts could be in store to services at SWAH, particularly with regard to the stroke unit, which he believes may still be lost. 

 

“If they take that away, there’s not much left except a glorified health centre or a holding facility. If that’s the outcome after all the millions of pounds that were put into SWAH, it wouldn’t be money well spent.”

 

Mr McPhillips has questioned the value of opening another new hospital in Omagh with similar services to those already under pressure in Enniskillen.

 

“You have to ask where was the forward thinking on this. There has been a battle between the two hospitals but in many respects it could be said that Fermanagh won the battle but lost the war. The overall outcome in terms of services available for patients in Fermanagh is poor.”

 

“We all have to look to the future and hope that this roadmap will be a roadway to success. The people of Fermanagh deserve as good a health service as the rest of the North. We don’t want a situation where ill people are forced to travel and there has to a structure in place that minimises suffering,” Mr McPhillips added.