WITH more locals than ever having experienced the fallout from the removal of emergency general surgery (EGS) from the SWAH, a large crowd is expected for the upcoming public meeting on how to restore the service.
On May 1, Save Our Acute Services will be hosting representatives from all the main local political parties at Fermanagh House, for what is expected to be a well-attended and constructive community event.
The aim of the public meeting is to present the positive possibilities set out in the thoroughly-researched SOAS roadmap, that was published in January, and to give the public the chance to question their political representatives about their concerns regarding the current situation.
A SOAS spokesperson said their team would also be on hand on the night to provide fact-checking or ask a question.
“It’s predominantly to ask the political parties what they’re doing about healthcare in this area,” they said.
“The population of this area needs to have them on board, and we look forward to hearing from them and to offering the option to speak to them to the population of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. We are providing that platform.”
They added the meeting would be concerned with current issues, to inform the public on what is happening at the moment, and would focus heavily on the solutions identified in the roadmap.
The meeting comes at a time of renewed vigour in the campaign to save SWAH services with momentum continuing to build in the community.
The SOAS spokesperson said more people than ever were now aware of the consequences of the removal of EGS from the Enniskillen hospital.
“People who hadn’t experienced enough of the impacts and the consequences of the removal of surgery now realise it was not just the removal of one service, it had enormous clinical consequences for so many other services,” they said.
“That reality has now come into too many houses.”
Aside from the upcoming meeting, SOAS is continuing to work in the background on various issues surrounding the restoration of services.
“For the moment, we are continuing to present the roadmap to local businesses, to local politicians and parties, and beyond local, on a regional and national level,” they said. “To parties, to unions, to medical bodies, and most importantly to people affected by the service change.
“Our employers and groups that live in our community and need to live safely in our community, we are meeting them at every available opportunity, and the invitations keep coming.”
Overall, they said the roadmap provided an achievable, logical route to ensure the state-of-the-art SWAH is utilised to its full potential.
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