PEOPLE in Fermanagh who require pain management or a chronic pain service are being forced to travel to Omagh or Derry to be seen by a consultant.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request carried out by Enniskillen woman Helen Hamill explains that the Western Trust is currently not providing a chronic pain service at South West Acute Hospital.
Helen says she was prompted to carry out the FOI because she currently travels to Belfast for treatment for pain, but her specialist is now retiring.
The FOI detailed that there was no Chronic Pain Service on the SWAH site, and the pain consultants led clinics are based in Derry and Omagh rather than Enniskillen.
The FOI also explained that the day procedure pain lists provides interventions from the anaesthetic pain specialist including epidurals, radio frequency and facet joint injections -these are given under X-ray guidance in both Omagh and Altnagelvin – but not in SWAH.
Helen has a complex neurological condition and she was very surprised about what was revealed by the FOI.
“I just wanted to find out what was available down here for pain management. Until I saw it written on paper, it was hard to believe that there is nobody in SWAH providing this treatment.
“I previously attended clinics in Derry, but by the time I travelled back to Enniskillen, all the goodness of the session was wiped out. A long drive from an appointment can be very painful for any patient.
“I was shocked to see that there is no pain management service available for the people of Fermanagh. I have friends crippled with joint conditions, rheumatic, arthritic pain and neurology conditions who need these services to be in their local hospital. It is ludicrous when we have a hospital the size of SWAH and the clinics are not being run here.”
Local Councillor Debbie Coyle told the Herald, “The pain clinic services in Enniskillen went years ago when the doctor retired and it was never replaced. It was never in SWAH, but it was in the Erne Hospital.
Obviously we do want to see it in Enniskillen, if we can recruit people into Enniskillen, and if the doctors will travel here, then that’s fine, bring it to Enniskillen.
Yes I want to see a pain clinic in Enniskillen, but we haven’t had one for years. Bad as the journey is to Omagh, we also wouldn’t want to see the service removed or decreased from Omagh and patients having to travel all the way to Derry for acute or chronic pain clinics.”
A spokesman for the Western Trust said: “Consultant-delivered pain management clinics are located in Altnagelvin Hospital and Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex.
“The Trust provides a chronic pain management service for all patients across the Western Trust. “The Trust’s Physiotherapy Departments, in all three hospitals, provide a ‘Moving with Pain’ course for patients. The Trust also provides a community based ‘Managing the Challenge’ course for patients with chronic health conditions.”
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