THE Western Trust has denied claims from a whistleblower that the South West Acute Hospital’s maternity unit could become unviable within months.
A public consultation is currently underway following a controversial decision to suspend emergency general surgery at the hospital in Enniskillen because of difficulties in recruiting consultant surgeons.
Speaking to the Fermanagh Herald, a doctor at the hospital who has remained anonymous, said a number of obstetrics and gynaecology consultants have announced they will be leaving, with locums also reluctant to cover the rota.
This is said to be over concerns they will be left legally vulnerable without the safety net of general surgeons.
“Probably in three months there will be no maternity,” the doctor said.
“I’m sure over the next three months or so there will be obstetric cover, but come May or June I’m not that sure.”
The doctor explained that in some cases, there is a small risk during obs and gynae procedures of injuries to the bowel, bladder or blood vessels – which would require the assistance of general surgeons.
As obs and gynae surgeons are not trained to carry out such procedures, the doctor said they could be held legally liable if things went wrong.
When the issue was raised with Trust management clinicians, they claimed to have received a “you’ll be grand” response.
“The management doesn’t really have the clinical insight to see that gynaecology surgeons only deal with the specialised part of the surgery," they...
By RealWV Staff, WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WV – In a revised court filing yesterday, as first reported by Brad McElhinny with WV MetroNews, The Greenbrier Hotel’s ownership leveled charges that Omni...