THE HEALTH regulator has spoken out in praise for the work of Fermanagh campaigners, Save Our Acute Services (SOAS). Speaking at a recent meeting of the Stormont Health Committee, chief executive of Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) Briege Donaghy, said she was in regular contact with SOAS members. Ms Donaghy had been asked about the disappointment felt […]
SOAS presents SWAH roadmap to the Department of Health
VOLUNTEERS from campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) travelled to Belfast again this week, this time to make the case for its plan to save SWAH services directly to the Department of Health. Back in January SOAS launched a comprehensive ‘roadmap’ plan on how to restore and protect services at the Enniskillen hospital, not least emergency general surgery […]
GP cover at all-time low in Fermanagh
DOCTOR shortages are continuing to devastate the Fermanagh community as local rural surgeries fight to survive. With the crisis spreading across the county, the latest to be hit is Brookeborough and Tempo surgery where the Herald learned there is regularly not enough GP cover. One reader told how she has not been able to see a […]
‘We need to look to the future’ – Fr Brian D’Arcy
SECURING a bariatric surgery hub at the SWAH would be a “building block” to help sustain wider services into the future, officials from the Department of Health have been told. Among those to address the officials who took time out to meet with SOAS volunteers on Thursday, when the group travelled to Stormont to deliver […]
SOAS seeks meeting with NI Health Minister Robin Swann
NEWLY re-appointed Health Minister Robin Swann has been urged to commit to restoring emergency general surgery (EGS) at the SWAH. Campaign group Save Our Acute Services has already written to Minister Swann requesting an urgent meeting on the situation. The decision by the Western Trust to withdraw the EGS service at the Enniskillen hospital was announced a […]
Waits twice as long for some local patients
WITH patients currently facing long waits across the North’s health service, due to severe winter pressures, here in Fermanagh some patients are waiting twice as long as everyone else, due to the current situation at the SWAH. Since the withdrawal of emergency general surgery (EGS) from the Enniskillen hospital local patients assessed as requiring urgent surgery […]
SWAH steps up to help hospitals cope with Covid fallout
NON-COVID patients from across the North are to be sent to the SWAH for surgeries and treatments that cannot currently be performed elsewhere due to the pandemic surge. Procedures from other hospitals, beginning with those in Belfast, are now being redirected to the Enniskillen hospital in the short term, however it is understood health officials […]
Anger at hospital carpark charges ‘kick in the teeth’
PEOPLE across Fermanagh have been left outraged following a decision made by the Department of Health (DoH) to restore car parking charges at SWAH. Jill Weir, pictured below, Health campaigner and Chairwown for the ‘Unison’ Fermanagh and Omagh branch told the Herald that she was “appalled” with such a decision, branding it a “kick in […]
Trust insists no threat to SWAH maternity service
IN RESPONSE to a story in last week’s Herald on plans for public consultations on maternity services at SWAH, the Western Trust have insisted there is no current threat to the maternity unit in Enniskillen. “There are no threats to maternity services at South West Acute Hospital,” a spokeswoman said. Concerns were raised for the […]
Family of stroke victim in plea to save SWAH unit
A FERMANAGH family whose mother is currently a patient in the SWAH stroke unit has spoken out about the devastating affect its closure would have on other families across the county. Lisnaskea woman Kathleen McCaffrey (78) has been a patient in the unit for around ten weeks after she suffered two serious strokes. The McCaffrey […]