GP crisis set to deepen as local doctor resigns


WITH a chronic shortage of general practitioners already causing serious difficulties in the local area, the crisis is set to deepen in the year ahead with more resignations and retirements on the horizon. The latest doctor preparing to hang up his GP coat is Dr Declan Morgan from the Dromore and Trillick Surgery, who has informed […]


Failing Out of Hours GP services playing ‘roulette’ with patient welfare


THE current GP Out of Hours services provided for the Western Health and Social Care Trust has been heavily criticised after figures showed many instances of no cover. During a meeting of the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s Policy and Resources Committee, one member remarked on the unacceptable playing of “roulette” in terms of patient […]


New dawn.. Vaccination roll out in health centre


COVID vaccinations got underway at Devenish Practice, Enniskillen, on Monday afternoon with patients ‘hopeful’ that a new dawn is on the horizon after an unprecedented year. Speaking shortly before Monday’s rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, practice manager, Jackie Owens told the Herald, “We only got the vaccine late last week, so we’re starting this afternoon […]


Christmas caution urged as Covid cases continue to rise


AS COVID continues to run rampant in Fermanagh, with SWAH admissions soaring and a heartbreaking rise in local deaths in the past week, the community is being urged to be as cautious as possible this Christmas.  The current infection rate in Fermanagh is almost 180, just under the rate in London which was this week […]


Vaccine news ‘more than we dared hope for’says local GP


A FERMANAGH GP has said the recent announcements on potential Covid vaccines are “an absolute game changer” that could very likely herald the beginning of the end of the global pandemic.  Dr Brendan O’Hare, who is the GP in Ederney and runs the Western Rural Healthcare group of practices, was speaking to the Herald earlier […]


Learn to live with virus


A FERMANAGH doctor has said he fears Covid lockdowns are doing more harm than good in the community, and has urged the powers-that-be not to impose heavy restrictions at Christmas. Dr Brendan O’Hare, who lost his 89-year-old father to the virus just weeks ago, told the Herald he is “becoming increasingly concerned about the unintended […]


Village surgery on the look-out for new doctor


THE SEARCH is on for a new doctor in village of Swanlinbar after the area’s resident GPs retired at the weekend.  A locum GP is to serve the people of Swanlinbar and surrounding areas for the immediate future after Dr Kevin Deering and Dr Jacqueline Ellis-Deering retired at the end of October. While no interviews […]