Professor Rafael Bengoa, author of ‘Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together’ – the blueprint for health and social care transformation in the North made the claims at the Fermanagh and West Tyrone Health Summit yesterday (Tuesday) at the Ardhowen Theatre in Enniskillen. 

The findings of the project were presented and found that all of the Western Trust’s services are ‘currently struggling to meet needs.’ 

The Pathfinder project was launched to identify a way to transform health and social care to provide reliable and sustainable services for the future. The key findings from the Pathfinder project include growing workforce challenges in key staff groups such as domiciliary care, nursing, social work, pharmacy and medical. 

Through reaction from the community engagement, the Western Trust have said that the ‘community is anxious about the resilience of primary care services’ and ‘there is a need to rebuild and reconnect local communities given the rural isolation that exists and the effect it has on people’s health.’

Concerns were also raised about the domiciliary care and fundamental services, and while it was also suggested that there is a need to rebuild and reconnect local communities given the rural isolation that exists and the effect it has on people’s health.

It was also found that the hospital and community services are not well connected – with professor Bengoa suggesting the model needs to be ‘more community orientated.’

Speaking at the conference, professor Bengoa said, “You have a hard job in implementing (the model) and I think that you are already starting that implementation.”

“I think what is going to make it possible is innovative ability. You can’t avoid this change any more because of quality and availability of care. The most striking thing for me in the North is that you are the most generous system in the world compared to others. The population in the North is receiving something that is not what others are receiving. Apart from needing the community, they need to start understanding what they are getting.”