Call made for ‘evasive’ Trust Board to resign

SWAH crisis prompts call from furious councillors as questions continue to mount over services

FERMANAGH and Omagh District Council has united in calling for the Board of the Western Health and Social Care Trust to resign over their “evasive” actions around the emerging crisis at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH); in particular, the precarious position of emergency surgical services.

The call came shortly after a Motion of No Confidence in the Trust’s Chief Executive was lodged, due for debate next month.

Among a number of revelations at the meeting, it has also emerged that SWAH staff have been informed a surgical ward will close next month, and six surgeons based at Altnagelvin Hospital are willing to rota-cover emergency services – but this has not been picked up on.

SDLP Councillor Adam Gannon also claimed the SWAH staff have been told Emergency Surgery Ward 3 will not take admissions from December 4 and will close two weeks later.

It comes as the pressure on the Western Trust to be open and honest with the people of Fermanagh continues to gather pace, with wellknown actors, Adrian Dunbar and Ciaran Mcmenamin, lending their support to the fight to keep emergency surgical services at the hospital.

Adrian Dunbar urged for reconsideration from those in power, saying: “This seems to me like a very retrograde step for health services in the Fermanagh and Tyrone area and surrounding counties, and I would implore everybody involved – including those in government and within the civil service, as we have no [Northern Ireland] Executive at the minute – to reconsider this potentially disastrous decision for many people in my home town of Enniskillen, and in the Fermanagh and Tyrone area.”

Also adding his support, Ciarán Mcmenamin said: “These are life and death decisions that are being taken on our behalf, and I know they are not being taken lightly.

“I understand that; I also understand that the NHS – wonderful organisation and boon to all of our lives it has been – is in a lot of trouble, we all know that.”

Meetings are also due to be held around the county for the public to show their support and have a say on the ongoing crisis in the coming days.

The Trust have organised a media briefing at the SWAH at 4pm today, Thursday, and this will be followed by a presentation from the Trust and Department of Health to Fermanagh and Omagh District Councillors regarding emergency surgical services at SWAH.

A full report on councillors’ calls to the Trust Board to step down, and what Adrian Dunbar and Ciarán Mcmenamin had to say, can be read over on Pages 5 and 7.