“NO money” has been set aside for a new Lisnaskea Health Care Hub eight years after the facility was first promised.

Health Minister Simon Hamilton told The Impartial Reporter that staff in the current health centre are working in “poor accommodation” that does not meet modern standards.

He said that a new Health Care Hub for Lisnaskea “is still the highest priority for the Western Trust” and revealed that the facility he is considering for Lisnaskea is a smaller version of the newly opened £25million Ballymena Health and Care Centre which includes acute, primary and community care clinics.

Three years ago the Commissioning Lead for the Health and Social Care Board Paul Cavanagh said that the business case for Lisnaskea’s new Health Care Hub was at an “advanced stage.”

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter during the Executive’s visit to Enniskillen last Thursday, Health Minister Simon Hamilton said: “That’s working through. There’s a process of a business case and so forth. I think it’s still the highest priority for the Western Trust. We are looking at options to make that a reality.”

He added: “I saw for myself the centre as it currently is and they are doing a really good job in very poor accommodation compared to what modern standards are. We are looking at investing in developing a new health and care centre there that will act as a hub for the wider community in that part of Fermanagh. There’s no money set aside to it at this stage.”

Meanwhile, he welcomed the “innovative approach” taken by the five GPs who run Enniskillen’s Lakeland Health Village, who will use a loan from the GP Infrastructure Scheme to enable a range of Trust services to operate from the facility.
“GPs working as part of a wider team in the community is something that in and of itself helps to attract more GPs to rural practices,” the Minister believes.

Commenting on last week’s Impartial Reporter revelation that private healthcare provider 3fivetwo is currently operating and entire ward and two theatres in Enniskillen’s South West Acute Hospital, the Minister said: “it’s not unique or unusual to have that.”

Asked if it is damaging to the ethos of the NHS, the Minister replied: “I don’t believe so. We have a situation where our waiting lists are unacceptably high. We’ve been investing £40 million in waiting lists this year to try and reduce them. That’s beginning to have an impact. This is not putting any additional pressure on the trusts.
“The fact that that company is expanding what it is doing in the South West Acute Hospital shows that they are doing a lot more and a lot of people are going to get the benefit of that. It is using capacity that is there which otherwise wouldn’t be utilised. From talking to people, they don’t mind where or who provides their operation or test and I don’t want them to be waiting any longer than they should be waiting.”