“Keep on shining the light, Fermanagh. Keep fighting the good fight. Time matters.”
Those were the words of Fermanagh Trust Director Lauri McCusker at the Westville Hotel in Enniskillen this evening, where campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) is hosting a public meeting on efforts to restore emergency general surgery (EGS) to the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).
Addressing the large crowd, Mr McCusker compared the situation to the Post Office scandal, in terms of system failures and the devastating impact it has had on some people’s lives. In the local sense, he referred to the extended distances patients must travel for emergency treatment.
He then spoke of last year’s Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) report, which was based on a review into the pathways associated with the suspension of EGS at the SWAH, and found no patient safety concerns. Many in the community who had taken part in that review felt they had not been represented properly.
“We have been informed that interview notes from people were inaccurate,” he told the meeting.
“They claimed people who were brought to hospital in an ambulance were actually brought in a car.”
Mr McCusker concluded, “Keep on shining the light, Fermanagh. Keep fighting the good fight. Time matters.”
