Western Trust 'letting patients down' over handling of emergency services at the South West Acute Hospital - Armstrong
The Western Trust has let patients down by not engaging with the local community over plans to end emergency surgery at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH), Diana Armstrong has said.
The Trust’s board will push ahead with a consultation on a proposal to “permanently suspend” emergency general surgery at the Enniskillen hospital – after temporarily dropping the service in 2022 over staffing and safety concerns.
The board has been told it is no longer possible to meet safety standards at the SWAH.
Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Diana Armstrong has slammed the Western Trust’s decision.
“The unanimous decision by the Western Trust to proceed with a consultation on the permanent suspension of Emergency General Surgery at SWAH, having abjectly failed to first engage meaningfully with the local community, is deeply disappointing.
“I believe the Trust has once again let patients and local staff down by handling this issue in such a confused and unsatisfactory manner. If the Trust believes this is the right thing to do in the interests of patient safety, then they should have been making those arguments publicly and presenting the clear evidence in recent months. Instead there has been a total vacuum in public information.
“There are also justified suspicions locally that the Trust has been slow on implementing some of the recommendations from the critical RQIA review from earlier this year.
“Even the timing of this consultation, announced at the very start of summer, raises serious concerns about the integrity of how the Trust is approaching the issue.
“As a local representative on this issue I will always do what is in the best interests of local patients and staff at the South West Acute Hospital. At this moment in time there are a significant number of questions and very few answers forthcoming.
“I do hope, however, that that will change as the consultation process gets underway. As such I strongly encourage the entire community to engage fully with the process and make their voices heard.”