FREE parking at the South West Acute Hospital and across the North is now over. Visitors, employees and patients at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen availed of free parking since Monday, thanks to a Stormont blunder, but normal service had now been resumed. Check out Wednesday’s paper for more on the story. To read […]
Ringfenced beds at SWAH ‘difficult to maintain’
DESPITE assurances of around 30 ringfenced beds for patients transferred from South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) to Altnagelvin Hospital for emergency general surgery, the Western Health and Social Care Trust has confirmed this proved “difficult to maintain” and the beds were reallocated. However, it has since been stressed the beds have been reinstated as of last […]
Blunder means free SWAH parking for the rest of month
YOU should always read the small print. That’s what officials at Stormont were telling themselves this week after a legislative blunder meant there will now be free parking at Northern Ireland’s hospitals for the rest of this month. Drivers visiting the South West Area Hospital in Enniskillen are sure to make the most of the loophole despite the congestion and […]
‘I’d rather die than go back to SWAH A&E’
A WOMAN in her late 70’s has been left badly shaken after a trip to A&E at the South West Area Hospital left her ‘emotionally and physically traumatised’. Following a harrowing isolated 12-hour wait, the patient, who went into the emergency department after becoming very short of breath said: “If I ever get sick again I will die […]
Concern about collapse of vital service at SWAH
IT IS feared the immense pressure on the local health service could grow even further after it emerged a vital service aimed at reducing hospital numbers is now no longer available at the SWAH. There are concerns the collapse of the Older Person’s Assessment and Liaison Service (OPALS) at the Enniskillen hospital will not only increase attendances at its emergency […]
Another service gone at SWAH in Fermanagh
THE OPALS programme is not the first innovative and wide-reaching initiative to have been lost from the SWAH, with a preventative cardiology service also now no longer available at the Enniskillen hospital. A Freedom of Information request by Save Our Acute Services (SOAS), which was returned last week, revealed the much-praised ‘Our Hearts Our Minds’ service was removed […]
Fermanagh suspected stroke patient sent home without scan
“UNTIL you have ill health, you won’t realise how broken the system is.” That’s the message from a Fermanagh patient who, after suffering a suspected stroke, was sent home in the middle of the night without receiving a scan or a test following an 11-hour wait to be seen in the SWAH emergency department. Two days later the patient collapsed again, requiring another […]
SWAH surgery removal putting pressure on ambulances
THERE is concern the removal of emergency general surgery (EGS) from the SWAH is putting pressure on the local ambulance service, with hundreds of patients needing transferred to from Enniskillen to Altnagelvin last year. Figures obtained by Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) show that from January 2023 to January 2024 the NI Ambulance Service (NIAS) […]
Exodus of Fermanagh health workers moving south
THE local health service is hemorrhaging experienced professional staff, who are hopping across the border where they are getting “significantly” better pay for doing the same jobs. The Western Trust has warned of a “challenging” situation in retaining Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) in the local service, with over 40 staff leaving the area to go south over the […]
Fermanagh patient’s 25-hour wait for emergency surgery
A FERMANAGH man who recently required emergency surgery has spoken of his horrible experience of travelling to Derry and waiting over 24 hours to be treated for a condition his doctor had deemed to be very urgent. The man, who stressed he was not normally the type to contact newspapers with complaints, got in touch with the Herald after […]