South West Acute Hospital RMGFH
HEALTH care across the county, but particularly in south Fermanagh, could soon see a much-needed boost in local health services thanks to a multi-million Euro cross-border project.
Funding is to be provided for A&E services across the entire Western Trust area as part of the EU-funded €8.8 million Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT) Acute Services Project.
In the south of the county, the project will fund a new geriatrician-led service for older people, as well as cardiac investigations. Urology, vascular, and dermatology services across the Western Trust are also to receive a boost as part of the project. While across the border, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan will also receive additional health funding.
A spokesman said: “The CAWT Acute Services Project has recently secured this EU funding to assess and treat higher volumes of patients more effectively through improvements to and modernisation of current service delivery models.” Local consultant paediatrician, Dr Ray Nethercott, was among those who attended the launch yesterday and spoke of cross-border information exchange.
Both scheduled and unscheduled care services will be reformed and modernised as part of the project, while technology will feature heavily in many of the project’s new initiatives. For example, technology will be used to communicate with patients in the community rather than having to take them into an acute hospital.
Specialist training will also be given to staff as part of the project.
The project is being undertaken by the HSE in the south, the Southern Trust, the Public Health Agency, the Health and Social Care Board, and the Western Trust. Match-funding has also been provided by the Departments of Health north and south of the border.
“The focus on new ways of working across traditional organisational boundaries, the use of technology to drive better services, and ultimately, care that is designed around patients,” said Alastair Campbell, Director of Secondary Care in the Department of Health.
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