Local campaigners have expressed fears over the potential loss of emergency surgery services at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, as the Department of Health failed to rule out the downgrade on Monday.
Robin Swann's department published a review of surgery services across Northern Ireland last week in which it set out a set of criteria that hospitals will be required to meet to continue providing emergency and elective surgery.
As part of the review, the Department says there is a ‘pressing need for change’ in hospitals here in order to make them more sustainable.
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When contacted by Belfast Live and asked whether plans were in place to cut emergency surgery at the SWAH , a Department of Health spokesperson did not address the question directly. Instead, a spokesperson said delivering emergency surgery across multiple smaller sites is ‘becoming increasingly difficult’.
“The changing nature of surgical speciality means delivering emergency general surgery across multiple smaller sites with a lower patient turnover is becoming increasingly difficult in terms of rotas, staff recruitment and retention, skill mix, and maintaining quality care,” the spokesperson said.
“If we don’t secure change in a planned way, it will happen anyway in an unplanned and piecemeal fashion as services in a number of locations increasingly struggle to keep going. By not setting the highest standards this can lead to sub-optimal outcomes for our patients.
“Going forward, the evidence based general surgery standards must be in place in hospitals to ensure safe outcomes through the delivery of high quality, sustainable and equitable care. Implementing the standards will mean that our patients can receive a more precise diagnosis and potentially less invasive treatments.
“We have been clear that this is not about closing any of our hospitals. Instead, it is about ensuring that our patients receive the care and treatment they need, when they need it.
“We can build centres of expertise and excellence to ensure that our population have timely access to the best possible services. Given the huge and growing demand for health and social care, we will need every inch of our hospital estate in the future to deliver first class services to our population.
“The Department will work closely with Trusts to implement the standards and to develop reconfiguration/implementation plans where required. This work will be fully co-produced and will include consultation and engagement as necessary."
However, one community campaigner from Co Fermanagh says the loss of any emergency surgery services at the SWAH would amount to a ‘massive breach of human rights’.
Dianne Little from the Cross Community Partnership in Letterbreen and Mullaghdun says it would leave many in rural areas of the county much worse off. She said it would increase travel times for emergency care and leave patients more vulnerable.
“What they are creating is a massive discrimination. It isn’t acceptable to sacrifice an area,” Dianne told Belfast Live. “That’s a political decision to abandon an entire community of around 70,000 people.
“People here are already suffering inequality in access to care and the highest burden of costs and suffering to travel for health care. It is not safe, sustainable or equitable for Fermanagh.
“The clue is in the name - it’s an emergency. Time matters, time can be critical if you’re bleeding or had a serious injury. So it seems like it’s an emergency in some parts and not an emergency in others.
“This is really a massive breach of human rights.”
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