AFTER the recent huge meeting in the Killyhevlin on the future of stroke services here the Fermanagh Stroke Support Group is continuing efforts to help people respond to the ongoing consultation. People are being urged to fill out the questionnaire about the future of SWAH’s stroke unit, and the group has organised several more workshops throughout the […]
Ward rounds… students get a taste for medicine!
A NEW generation of potential medical professionals joined in a mini medical school held at the South West Acute Hospital. Twenty-two local Year 13 students from schools across Fermanagh and Tyrone were the first to take part in the new initiative run by the Western Trust and organised by Hannah Gillespie, a junior doctor from […]
Fears valuable health professionals will be lost here
THE loss of the stroke unit at SWAH will also result in the loss of experienced staff in the Western Trust, warned an experienced physiotherapist. Ciaran Daly, a clinical specialist physiotherapist who has worked in the stroke services for more than 20 years spoke out at the meeting to oppose the closure of SWAH’s stroke […]
Drumclay to be hospital halfway house
DRUMCLAY Care Home, which is due to reopen again in the near future, will be a type of ‘halfway house’ for patients, acting as a bridge between hospital and home, according to the Western Trust. Around half of inpatients at SWAH over the age of 70 at any given time, and many over the age […]
New councillor pushes for answers on health initiative
THE future of our local health service has been one of the first issues to come up for discussion at the first meeting of the newly elected Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. Councillor Donal O’Cofaigh called for clarity in regard to council involvement in the Pathfinder initiative set up by the Western Trust to gauge […]
Kevin’s road to recovery from brain injury after fall
A YOUNG man is working to raise awareness of brain injuries after his life was changed instantly following a tragic accident. Twenty-year-old Kevin Fee from Tempo, was studying in Belfast when he fell down a flight of stairs, and was left with a serious brain injury which resulted in him having to learn how to […]
Advisers’ quit Trust project linked to ‘gagging orders’
TWO of the Fermanagh ‘experts by experience’ who were assisting the Western Trust have stepped down after being asked to sign what have been called “gagging orders”. As part of the Pathfinder community engagement project, which was set up by the Trust last year with the promise of improving local services, seven members of the […]
£17 million spent on Locum staff
Over £17 million was spent on agency and locum doctors across hospitals and community services in 2017/18 as dependency on locums increases. The Western Trust spent £17.3m to fill vacancies in the health service due to the Trust’s ‘challenges recruiting medical staff due to its geographical location.’ Locums are doctors and medical staff who provide […]
Hopes high Roslea surgery could be reopened
HOPE is growing GP services could be finally be returning to Roslea. It is now over two years since the village’s surgery shut, leaving the area without a doctor for the first time in 170 years. Since 2017 patients have been forced to make the 35 mile round trip to Lisnaskea to see a GP. […]
Health Services ‘struggling to meet needs’ summit hears
A healthcare contributor has claimed that the North has the ‘most generous system in the world’ despite a consultation finding that the Western Trust’s services are ‘all currently struggling to meet needs.’ Professor Rafael Bengoa, author of ‘Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together’ – the blueprint for health and social care transformation in the North […]