THE length of stay for older patients at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) has doubled in the past five years, it has been revealed.
Hospital campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) has uncovered figures regarding the average length of stay of patients in geriatric/care of the elderly services at the Enniskillen hospital has dramatically increased since 2020/21.
The information was obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the campaign. The figures show that average stay for geriatric/care of the elderly patients at SWAH was only 15 days in 2020/21 but that it rapidly increased in following years to 26 days, 31 days, and was 29 days in 2023-24.
This is significantly higher than any other Type 1 hospital across the North.
The campaign group has pointed out that the sharp increase in hospital stays for geriatric patients means that beds cannot be freed up and is adding to pressures on emergency departments in the Western Trust area which are already struggling due to the removal of emergency general surgery at SWAH in December 2022.
SOAS spokesperson Donal O’Cofaigh said, “These figures confirm the severity of the crisis in elder care services and are an indictment of the failure and inaction of the health authorities.
“Older people are staying twice as long in SWAH because of the lack of community care. This crisis in social care is caused by inadequate funding and poor planning – meaning carers cannot be found or kept because they aren’t paid properly and given travel allowances which don’t meet real travelling costs.”
Mr O’Cofaigh said the consequence of this is that beds are tied up in hospitals and emergency departments which leads to EDs being unable to accept patients from ambulances.
“The scale of the crisis in the WHSCT area is clear but SWAH is factually the worst affected. Elderly patients are spending twice as long in SWAH than they were four years ago,” Mr O’Cofaigh  added.
“It requires taking immediate steps leading to an expansion of care in the community, more support for GP services and a commitment and plan to restore emergency general surgery at SWAH.”