Save Our Acute Services is calling on the Western Trust management to fully consider the 20 recommendations identified by the campaign as part of its roadmap for South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).
The call came after the Trust confirmed to trade union representatives that it would hold a ‘workshop’ after its September [4th] Board meeting to ‘consider next steps following on from the pausing of the consultation on Emergency General Surgery Services in the Trust’.
The workshop will consider ‘the Minister’s request for the Trust to produce a vision plan for how the SWAH will be supported to meet the needs of its current and future population’.
The campaign wrote to Neil Guckian, the Western Trust CEO on July 28th, requesting detail on the minister’s call for a vision plan for the hospital, making suggestions included in its roadmap document and requesting a direct meeting with the non-executive directors of WHSCT.
In a letter sent to the Minister for Health on 21st August, the campaign included in full the original correspondence with the WHSCT and stated ‘it is our firm opinion that this [SOAS] roadmap can and should form the basis of a viable vision plan for SWAH’.
The letter reiterated SOAS’ call for SWAH to be afforded ‘rural area hospital’ status and that no plans for hospital reconfiguration should be made until after the vision plan was developed.
SOAS spokesperson Donal O’Cofaigh said: “We welcome the fact that the Western Trust will hold a workshop on its next steps forward including a vision plan for SWAH. SOAS has made clear to both Western Trust management and the Health Minister that we consider our roadmap document can and should form the basis of a viable vision plan for SWAH. At the very least our evidence based proposals need to be fully considered as part of the development of any vision plan.
“In recent weeks, well-attended public meetings across Fermanagh have heard personal testimonies of tragic and shocking patient experiences – many of which are as a direct result of the withdrawal of emergency general surgery in December 2022. The needs of our community to access live-saving surgery in an emergency or trauma situation can only be met through the restoration of 24-7 access to emergency surgery in Fermanagh. We are calling for a commitment from the authorities to work to restore the service with actions identified to build up staffing levels to where we need them to be and on a sustainable basis.
“SWAH is a world-class hospital but it has never been given a chance to succeed. Our roadmap calls for an ambitious approach to make it work again – not just for our community but for the region as a whole and cross-border. SWAH can make a huge contribution to help address the wider crisis in health care. Now is the moment for decisive leadership and real ambition for our NHS to trump negativity and the prospect of further service crisis and collapse.”