EMERGENCY general surgery is being suspended at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen from next month over staff shortages, it has been confirmed.
A statement from the Western Health Trust yesterday said the decision to temporarily suspend unplanned emergency surgery was taken after a resignation of a consultant surgeon.
This means the hospital will not be in a position to provide an emergency (unplanned) surgical rota from December 18.
Geraldine McKay, Director of Acute Services at the Western Trust, said she had previously warned about the "fragility" of Emergency general surgery at the hospital and the latest step was needed to protect public safety.
“Despite our previous and ongoing efforts to recruit, we have not been successful to date in securing the necessary consultant workforce," she said.
"The Trust is therefore now unable to maintain the required workforce to sustain and deliver a safe emergency (unplanned) general surgical service to our population from SWAH.
“Put simply, we cannot provide an emergency general surgery service without a consultant surgical team in place to provide the required 24/7 cover."
The current rota will be maintained up until December 4, and planned elective surgery at the hospital will continue.
No changes will be made to the Emergency Department (Type 1) at the hospital which will continue to operate on a 24/7 basis.
Ms McKay added that there would be "minimal to no impact" on the other existing services at SWAH.
“We have developed and will implement alternative clinical patient pathways to mitigate risk and protect the safety of people needing to avail of emergency general surgery services after the current rota ends and are focused on minimising the impact of this temporary arrangement on the hospital’s acute services. We will communicate the clinical patient pathways in the coming days," she said.
The Western Trust is now liaising with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the Southern Trust on new arrangements.
Commenting on the longer term plans, Western Trust Chief Executive Neil Guckian said: “We need to fully utilise all of our theatre capacity across South West Acute Hospital to undertake more elective procedures, and we are delighted to work with the Department to develop SWAH as an overnight elective surgery centre to benefit the growing numbers of patients on our waiting lists.
“I would like to pay tribute to our surgical teams for their continued commitment despite these mounting pressures and thank staff at South West Acute Hospital for their flexibility in supporting these temporary arrangements.”
He continued: “I want to reassure the local community that the Trust is fully committed to developing and enhancing South West Acute Hospital as an essential part of the Western Trust and regional hospital network. SWAH has a very busy Emergency Department, fantastic facilities and a wide range of very vibrant specialities."
He asked the public for their support and understanding as the Trust continued to work through the challenges to develop a solution that meets the future needs of the population.
"We will be carrying out a full public consultation on this temporary change including seeking views on how emergency general surgery might be restored, and will outline the details of consultation process in the coming weeks," he said.
“Extensive work will be undertaken to inform patients of the change to general surgery services, including public advertising, posters and social media messaging.”
