THE WESTERN Trust did not carry out a risk assessment on the impact of withdrawing emergency general surgery (EGS) from the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH), it has been confirmed.
The Trust announced last November it was suspending the EGS service at the Enniskillen hospital due to a lack of available surgeons. While it has continued to call this withdrawal ‘temporary’, the Trust has told the Herald it does not envisage EGS ever being restored at the SWAH.
Now, a Freedom of Information request by Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) has revealed the Trust did not assess the risks to patients prior to removing EGS from the hospital, which has left every person in Fermanagh at least an hour-and-a-half away from the nearest emergency surgery service.
The Trust said it did not carry out the risk assessment – which would be required for any permanent withdrawal of a service – as “direct action” had been needed immediately at the time because its EGS staff rota had collapsed. It added it had put contingency arrangements in place to ensure patient safety.
However, the difficulties maintaining the SWAH EGS rota had been known to the Trust for years prior to the service withdrawal last year.
In addition, despite the long term difficulties maintaining the EGS rota, the Trust has not advertised for general surgeons for the SWAH since 2021. Indeed, it has still not tried to recruit any new emergency surgeons for the SWAH since the collapse of the service, stating it did not feel there was any point as it didn’t expect any to apply.
A spokesperson for SOAS said the lack of risk assessment was “scandalous.”
Referring to the family fun day the campaign group organised to show the community’s support for the SWAH last weekend, the spokesperson said SOAS would have been refused permission to hold the three-hour event if it had not carried out a risk assessment.
From health and safety forms, to fire risk assessments, to every single vendor requiring proof of insurance, the group had 88 pages of paper work to complete before the event.
“This was in order to put on three hours of fun, not to play with the outcome of journeys which are untested,” they said.
“We had to complete so much paper work, for a fun event for the community, yet the Western Trust had no risk assessment for our lives. It’s quite shocking when you compare the two.”
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