FURTHER disruption to health services will be experienced in Fermanagh this week, due to the latest strike action being taken by junior doctors. This will run to 7am on Saturday. This follows two 48-hour walkouts last month from May 22-24. Patients are advised to expect widespread disruption to normal services. Health and Social Care Trust websites will […]
More pain for Fermanagh patients
YET another service has gone at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH). The Osteoporosis Clinic, which was held once a week and gave essential medical treatment to those suffering from the condition, has closed temporarily due to a staffing shortage. Worse still, some patients are unaware of the closure, and those who do know about it […]
Average wait ‘over 40 hours’ for bed at Altnagelvin
THE Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) group has claimed it takes an average time of ‘over 40 hours’ for emergency surgical patients to get a bed in the Altnagelvin Hospital. As part of a large submission made by SOAS to the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), the campaign highlighted how patients from SWAH are being forced […]
Family survives food truck fire in Enniskillen
AN Enniskillen man and his young family narrowly escaped serious injury when the chip van they were working in suddenly went ablaze at the weekend. Van owner Paddy McDonnell was working in the Diamond area of Enniskillen on Saturday night when flames began shooting dramatically from his vehicle into the air and black smoke billowed skywards. Mr McDonnell […]
BREAKING: GP appointed for Fermanagh border practice
THE Swanlinbar community has said they’re ‘delighted’ after the appointment of a new GP. For the past three years the practice just across the border has been run on a full-time basis by a locum GP. On Friday afternoon, Swanlinbar Development Association confirmed that a new GP has been appointed to the Swanlinbar Health Centre […]
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 […]
Fermanagh outraged at ‘cultural issue’ comment
FERMANAGH patients are more than willing to travel for elective treatment, they are simply requesting equal access to timely treatment when it comes to emergency care. That’s the message from Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) following local anger at comments made in a report to the Department of Health which stated there was “a cultural issue” […]
Fermanagh care staff completely stressed out by system
A FERMANAGH carer has spoken out about the daily challenges in delivering care to those who need it in the local community, outlining how it is not a shortage of staff that is leading to issues, but the system itself. The frustrated carer reached out to the Herald in response to our reporting on the heartbreaking […]
‘Fermanagh community is united behind our hospital’
THE POWER of the people of Fermanagh in the fight to save SWAH services is continuing to grow, with the current campaign to bring bariatric surgery to the hospital bringing the entire community together. As previously reported by the Herald, the Department of Health is currently running a consultation on the future of obesity services, which […]
Fears SWAH could lose acute status
CONCERN is growing that the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) could lose its ‘acute’ status, after it emerged the Western Trust is considering changing the name of the hospital. Recently released minutes from a meeting of the SWAH Strategic Development Group – which was set up by the Trust to oversee the future development of the Enniskillen hospital […]