A group of consultant surgeons who played a leading role in the Department of Health’s Review of General Surgery have defended the decision to suspend emergency surgery services at the South West Acute Hospital.
There has been widespread concern around Co Fermanagh after the Western Trust announced the ‘unplanned’ decision to suspend the service, following difficulties in recruiting surgeons for the hospital.
A letter signed by nine consultant surgeons from DOH’s Review of General Surgery Network Board said "a local hospital is not always the best or the safest place to be treated".
READ MORE: Western Trust confirms suspension of emergency surgery at South West Acute Hospital
The letter states that it is an "unavoidable fact" smaller hospitals across the UK are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain surgeons, with a reliance on locums to plug gaps in rotas leading to "inconsistencies" in patient care.
“In short, the service becomes less resilient, more fragile and less attractive as a workplace,” the letter says.
“So, when you hear that SWAH has struggled for years to attract and retain consultant general surgeons, this is why.
“It’s easy to accuse Trusts of not doing enough on the recruitment front. Or to keep demanding that they try harder.
“ ‘Trying harder’ will not alter the basic realities of population size and modern emergency surgical practice.
“We fully understand the support in the local community for their local hospital; and the desire to have services close at hand.
“In an ideal world, everyone would live near to a major hospital that can provide every single medical specialty. That’s not the world we are living in.
“A local hospital is not always the best or the safest place to be treated.”
With emergency surgery services set to be suspended from the SWAH on 18 December, a public consultation is to be held on the future of the service.
The consultants advised that from that date, patients should still attend the Emergency Department as normal.
"Although emergency general surgery needs to be done relatively quickly, we are not talking about the race against time seen in other types of medical emergencies," the letter added.
"The people of Fermanagh are not being asked to decide where to attend if they fall sick. They should attend the SWAH ED as they would normally have done.
"If you phone for an ambulance then the paramedics will transfer you to the most appropriate hospital, which may still be SWAH, however, it may be direct to Altnagelvin or Craigavon."
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