Currently a third of all patients at SWAH each week are over the age of 85, while over half are over the age of 70.

Deputy chief executive of the Western Trust Kieran Downey has told the Herald, as part of the Trust’s efforts to improve services in Fermanagh, the take over of the lease of Drumclay was being considered to ease the pressure on SWAH and to ensure residential dementia patients would not have to travel outside the county. 

Speaking at the end of the first phase of the Pathfinder public engagement project, which involved scores of public meetings in rural areas around the county, Mr Downey said that both the SWAH figures and what they had been hearing at the meetings highlighted the need for more “connected” community services and a great need for more dementia nursing beds in the county. 

“We are in the process of seeking a short-term solution by looking at taking over Drumclay,” said Mr Downey, who said the Trust was responding to the concerns raised at the public meetings. 

“In the short-term this will open up some beds and begin to let the community have confidence in the Trust. 

“It will also help relieve the pressure on the hospital, as well as just having those beds available for the Fermanagh community because people were telling us they were concerned about where they might have to go.  

“They don’t want to be going to Strabane or Craigavon or where ever for a freely available bed,” he pointed out.

Mr Downey said taking over Drumclay, which closed in December leaving some local patients having to reside at SWAH as no local beds were available, was part of the Trust’s plan to build up more “community connectedness.” 

This will involve linking up services in rural areas so they work better. 

“The ageing population is one thing, then you add into that rurality, poor roads, isolation, smaller extended families,” he said. 

“You can see why firstly why we need to concentrate on dementia nursing beds in the community, but we also need to concentrate on these connecting communities so we begin to build supportive communities to help support those people when they’re out.”