THE MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, and former head of the Royal College of Nursing, has written to the Health Minister to request an urgent meeting on the SWAH.
Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, recently urged the Western Trust to ‘pause’ and ‘reconsider’ their consultation process on the permanent withdrawal of emergency surgery from the SWAH.
“I acknowledge the intervention by the Health Minister to end the inadequate consultation process that had been put in place by the Western Trust and to ask them to put in place a vision plan setting out how the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) will be supported to meet the needs of the population of Fermanagh and South Tyrone,” Ms Cullen said in a statement.
“My colleagues and I are receiving increasing concerns from constituents, many from elderly people who are concerned by the lack of meaningful public consultation about the future of Emergency General Surgery with the Trust over future services.
“I have written to the Health Minister to request a meeting to discuss my concerns and suggestions for ensuring a robust and meaningful public consultation about the SWAH.”
Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) has also welcomed the intervention of the Northern Ireland Health Minister.
“This is a welcome intervention by the Minister and will provide significant assurance to the community,” said spokesperson Donal O’Cofaigh.
“This consultation should never have proceeded in the first place. SOAS highlighted a range of concerns about the process and made the Patient Client Council aware of these.
“The Western Trust must now bring this consultation to an end and instead commence work on an alternative, ambitious vision plan for the hospital.
“SOAS has set out an evidence-based roadmap which we believe offers a pathway for the long-term sustainability of all acute services in SWAH as a rural hospital – including the provision of emergency general surgery. This roadmap will deliver on the hospital’s huge and largely untapped potential for improving health outcomes locally, regionally and cross-border.”