Debate contribution: South West Acute Hospital: Future of Services

Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on 9 September 2025.

MLA

Ms Diana Armstrong

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

9 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

South West Acute Hospital: Future of Services

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5086839

Read the official Assembly record

Text

First, I join others in sending my best regards to my constituency colleague Deborah Erskine. Welcoming a new child into the family is precious, and I sincerely hope that she experiences a really healthy and happy remainder of her pregnancy. I welcome the opportunity to speak on future services at South West Acute Hospital, an issue that goes to the very heart of healthcare in Fermanagh and Tyrone and, indeed, across the region. The South West Acute Hospital is one of the most modern and well-designed facilities anywhere in Northern Ireland. Purpose-built, state-of-the-art and deliberately built with the long term in mind, it remains a hospital with enormous potential. Too often, in our wider public-sector estate, we talk about crumbling buildings or outdated infrastructure. As the Minister has seen with his own eyes on many occasions, the SWAH is different: it is a hospital that still has the space, equipment and flexibility to provide world-class care. That is why I look forward to the trust and the Minister coming forward with further proposals for even greater utilisation. I know that the Minister has specifically identified the uncommissioned theatre capacity as an opportunity that he expects to see utilised. The hospital has lots of potential to do more. Thanks to the efforts of the Minister, levels of elective activity in the SWAH have never been as significant as they are now. Of course, a hospital is never just a building. A hospital's greatest strength is its workforce. The support staff, doctors, nurses, midwives and allied healthcare professionals (AHPs) who dedicate themselves every day to caring for patients are the backbone of those institutions, and we owe them our gratitude. They are skilled and resilient, and they deserve our admiration and, most important, our support. Understandably, there is a lot of concern about the future of SWAH and the services that it provides. The trust's initial decision in 2022 to temporarily suspend emergency general surgery in response to staffing challenges left a number of unanswered questions and concerns. It did not help that, whilst commitments were given at that time, particularly in relation to the pathways, regrettably, not all of those commitments were properly delivered upon. That is why the RQIA review ordered by Robin Swann last year was an important step forward. I expect that I am not alone among the MLAs from Fermanagh and South Tyrone in having received harrowing accounts of the experiences of some patients. I pay tribute to the various local campaigners in the Gallery today — you are welcome — who have asked patients to come forward to relay those lived experiences. I also pay tribute to SOAS for the production of its road map, a set of proposals that could be part of the solution. It is important that other critical voices, such as that of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS), are heard and listened to in this space. Whilst the RQIA report earlier this year made recommendations for action that, I was pleased to see, were all accepted, there is still scope to make further improvements. The pathways are still challenging, and double ED waits still happen. It should have been obvious to absolutely everyone, therefore, that another consultation would need to be handled more carefully, sensitively and diligently. Unfortunately, what the trust presented us with in early July was the exact opposite of that. Instead of building confidence, it eroded it, and, instead of empowering staff and communities, it alienated them. A case in point was its decision to hold only one public engagement event and to do so in the middle of the Twelfth fortnight. All of those obvious blunders have had real consequences and left the local community even more anxious and frustrated. In the eyes of many, the overall process in early summer was not a genuine attempt at engagement but a box-ticking exercise. That is not how healthcare planning should be done. That is why I welcomed the Minister's highly unusual but important intervention on 16 July. His request for a vision plan must be the starting point for a serious strategic conversation about how to restore confidence and clearly set out the role that the hospital hopes to play in years to come. SWAH is an incredible hospital. It is a facility that has huge potential to meet local and regional needs. The trust needs to grasp the current opportunity. That is the type of vision that the public want to see, that the staff deserve and that patients need to see. Moreover, it is what local rural residents need. I genuinely hope that the Western Trust can provide the requested vision plan. As an MLA, I stand ready and willing to help in any way that I can. Let me be clear: the South West Acute Hospital is not a problem to be solved but an opportunity to be embraced. With its facilities, its dedicated workforce and its entirely loyal community, it has a long and secure future ahead of it. As public representatives, it is our responsibility to make sure that that future is secured for everyone in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Thank you.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:05 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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