Campaigners call for their hospital to keep 'life saving' service

Hospital campaigners in County Fermanagh have said they are taking their fight to the steps of Stormont as voices from their rural community "are not being heard".

Emergency general surgery was temporarily suspended at the South West Acute Hospital (Swah) in December 2022, with some patients from Fermanagh and Tyrone having to travel to Londonderry, up to an hour-and-a-half's journey.

In July 2025, the Western Health and Social Care Trust's board agreed to consult on the permanent removal of the service from the hospital, which was later paused.

The Department of Health (DoH) said any decision on a permanent change to the delivery of emergency general surgery at Swah would require its approval.

Almost 400 people attended a public meeting on Tuesday to express what they described as frustration and anger.

Campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) said it continued to feel abandoned and misled by health officials in the Western Trust and the DoH.

Donal O'Cófaigh from SOAS said people in County Fermanagh felt Stormont was not listening.

He said it had been three years without access to "life-saving" surgery at Swah, and that it was "simply unacceptable".

O'Cófaigh lives close to the Irish border in Belcoo and said it was a "very, very long drive" to Altnagelvin in Derry, where emergency general surgery is offered.

"Unfortunately we're hearing a lot more cases now being reported of families coming forward, having had experiences of their relatives suffering as a result of no local access to surgery in an emergency," he said.

Emergency general surgery treats sudden, serious conditions in the abdomen and elsewhere that threaten life, organs, or tissue.

It involves fast assessment and operations for issues like appendicitis, bowel obstructions, hernias, gallstones, or trauma, often via the emergency department, and requires rapid decision-making and treatment.

The Western Trust said many patients could be treated in its ambulatory surgical patient unit the same day or the next day, with an average of 2.5 patients a day being transferred to Derry for surgery.

SOAS disputes these figures and has said more people are affected - including issues such as aftercare.

Kate Clifford, director of the Rural Communities Network, said the geography of County Fermanagh meant it was badly served by roads.

"There are no rail networks here and there's really poor public transport so the linkages to other centres and other hospitals is really poor," she told BBC News NI.

"Long distances have to be travelled by people to access the same level of care that people in Northern Ireland can face."

Clifford, who lives in Maghera in County Londonderry, said she had a choice between Antrim, Coleraine or Altnagelvin if she needed to attend a hospital in an emergency.

"You come to Fermanagh and your access is just appalling," she added.

"You have people more than 100km away from Altnagelvin Area Hospital and it's a real struggle for people."

Eileen McGovern, a member of SOAS, said returning "life-saving" emergency general surgery services to Swah was not a lost cause.

"We need this service, it's life-saving, it's crucial and it's a right," she said.

"I'm already 45 minutes from the hospital, you then try driving a critically ill patient in the back of the car when there's no ambulance available... it is unacceptable.

"The people who are making these decisions do not live in Fermanagh, that is the very crucial point."

The campaign group has recently taken a legal challenge against the Western Trust over the suspension of emergency general surgery at the hospital.

It follows comments made by the Western Trust board at a Stormont health committee briefing last November that when a service was paused there was an "inevitability" it won't go back.

A Western Trust spokesperson said the comment referred to the trust being unable to go back to the emergency general service provided at Swah in 2022.

However since then, the trust has complied with standards set for emergency general surgery at Altnagelvin Hospital which covers the entire Western Trust area.

Western Trust chief executive Neil Guckian said going back to the way things were would require major investment so services can meet the new standards for general surgery and attract the surgeons needed.

"This would require significant investment in interventional radiology, renal services, and the establishment of a bleeding rota," a statement from Guckian said.

He added that the DoH "must approve a permanent change to emergency general surgery in South West Acute Hospital".

The DoH said there were "evidence-based standards" for emergency general surgery, and hospitals delivering this type of care must meet these standards.

It said the trust must follow the guidance on the change and withdrawal of services.

A decision on a permanent change to the delivery of emergency general surgery at Swah will require approval from the department.

In a statement to BBC News NI, the DoH added: "Swah remains an important acute hospital within the NI hospital network, and the minister and department share the trust's commitment to the long-term sustainability and development of it as a vital and successful hospital within the HSC regional network of hospitals."