Deputy sister Mary Robinson introduces Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to staff on his visit to the South West Acute Hospital in November
IT SEEMS he’s the man of the moment and this week, fresh from his successes at the Brexit negotiations, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had the time to give our local hospital a serious shot in the arm!
The South West Acute Hospital was given a massive morale booster with the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggesting in the Dail that more cross-border patients should travel to Enniskillen for treatment.
When the hospital was built at a cost of £712m in 2012 it was thought that its long-term viability depended on attracting a significant number of patients from border counties in the South.
Now, with a new hospital built in Omagh expected to take patients away from Enniskillen, and the fear of services being lost to Altnagelvin, the Taoiseach’s comments will be welcomed by supporters of SWAH.
During a recent visit to Enniskillen, Mr Varadkar spent some time at the hospital and took the time to meet staff and look around the facilities. Clearly he was impressed and in the course of a recent Dail debate the Taoiseach cited Enniskillen as a hospital which could benefit southern patients who would, in turn, help support its staff and services. He said SWAH could provide for patients in Sligo, Donegal and other neighbouring counties in the South and spoke of the top class facilities in the hospital.
The Taoiseach’s comments will be welcomed in particular by local people who have been campaigning for the retention of stroke services at SWAH. There has also been growing concern over ENT services and a public consultation meeting is taking place at 7pm tomorrow evening at Enniskillen Town Hall to discuss the future of radiology services.
In the Dail debate Mr Varadkar, said “It is a really fabulous new hospital there in Enniskillen, under-used if anything. We discussed ways to which we may enable more patients from Donegal and Sligo to use the facilities there to help deal with our capacity short comings.”
Jill Weir, Branch Secretary of Unison at SWAH said she would welcome cross-border patients utilising the hospital as it may secure jobs and services in the hospital.
“I know when the Taoiseach was visiting the hospital he visited our stroke unit and he was very impressed by the services. I would encourage anything that brings people to our hospital as it could actually encourage the provision of more services too.
“As long as nobody from the NHS was at a detriment, and that jobs were protected then this should be welcomed.
MLA Jemma Dolan, welcomes the Taoiseach’s comments, saying “We are completely in support of cross-border co-operation. SWAH has such good facilities and it is a state of the art hospital. If we use the services in SWAH and offered that cross border it would strengthen and hopefully secure the services in the hospital.
A spokesman from the Department of Health said, “The Department believes there would be merit in exploring the potential for further collaboration with the aim of improving or sustaining the safety and quality of acute hospital services and people’s access to services in the border counties. However, this would be a matter for the Health Ministers from both jurisdictions to consider.”
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere