Member's statement: South West Acute Hospital: Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority Report

Member's statement by Mrs Deborah Erskine on 16 June 2026.

MLA

Mrs Deborah Erskine

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

16 June 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

South West Acute Hospital: Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority Report

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5623543

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Last week, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) published its report following an unannounced inspection of emergency general surgery pathways at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH). While the report outlines a number of positive developments, it is vital that the findings and the figures are fully scrutinised and not simply accepted at face value. Of particular concern are the issues highlighted regarding patient transfers from SWAH to Altnagelvin. Those concerns are not new.

For some time, I have been raising serious questions about patient transport arrangements and the impact that lengthy journeys and delays can have on patients. Constituents and healthcare staff have consistently voiced their concerns about the challenges associated with transfers between the hospital sites, and those concerns cannot be overlooked when assessing the overall effectiveness of the current emergency general surgery model. The people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone were promised an awful lot when the service and the pathways were changed. We were promised that new roads would be built and that ambulance transfers would be in place. It is clear from the RQIA report that those things have not happened in tandem with the change of that service. We still have a pause — a temporary cessation — of emergency general surgery in Fermanagh, and, when you look at the fact that ambulance transfers are having a serious knock-on impact on the service, you see that that is having a detrimental impact. One aspect of the report that stood out for me was the fact that the Department of Health has not provided or commissioned any additional resource to alleviate the pressures experienced by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in supporting the changes to emergency general surgery at the SWAH that are increasing the transfers in the system. This has been going on for too long. For four years, we have been in this situation, yet the Health Minister has failed to take the necessary action; instead, the trust has been forced to rely on private ambulance provision that comes at a cost to the Department and, essentially, to us as ratepayers and taxpayers. Therefore, it is important that the Minister steps in and acts. I thank the health staff who have been doing their utmost to ensure patient safety. I will try to meet the Health Minister, the RQIA and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service on this, but it is time for action and to stop treating the people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone —

— as citizens who do not —

— need respect.

423 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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