THE local community is being urged to come out in strong numbers to Fermanagh House tonight (Thursday, May 1) for a public meeting on the future of the SWAH.
The meeting, which begins at 8pm, has been organised by Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) and will focus on the campaign group’s roadmap to restored emergency general surgery to the Enniskillen hospital, and to protect and restore its other services.
Representatives from all the main political parties have been invited to the meeting, where the public will have the opportunity to raise their concerns with them on the current situation at the SWAH.
Members of SOAS will also be on hand to provide fact-checking or answer questions on the night.
Speaking to the ‘Herald ahead of the meeting, a SOAS spokesperson said the meeting was “predominantly to ask the political parties what they’re doing about healthcare in this area.”
“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.
A large crowd is expected for the meeting, with SOAS noting the community was more supportive than ever of the campaign to restore EGS at the SWAH, which was removed “temporarily” in late 2022.
“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.”
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