FERMANAGH people are being urged to make their voices heard at a public meeting that will be held in Enniskillen next month on the future of stroke services in Northern Ireland.

The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) is currently in the middle of a 13-week pre-consultation process relating to proposals for reshaping stroke services across the province.

Although the HSCB insists that no decisions have been taken on any services, local campaigners fear that the plans will lead to the downgrading or closure of the Stroke Unit at the South West Acute Hospital, outside Enniskillen.

A public meeting organised by the HSCB, which was held in the Tara Centre in Omagh just under two weeks ago, did little to calm their anxieties.

Now, a new action group, known as Save Our Stroke Services, has been set up in Enniskillen with the sole purpose of fighting against any threat of closure or reduction of services at the local unit.

The group is made up of local stroke survivors, their families and carers, as well as local politicians, the trade union UNISON and other interested community participants.

In the coming weeks, it intends to start a social media campaign, distribute leaflets to the public and inform the local community on how to reply to the HSCB pre-consultation.

The group is also calling on Fermanagh and Tyrone people to attend next month’s meeting in large numbers to “send one loud voice” that any attempt to downgrade or remove local services would be opposed.

The meeting is due to take place at the Killyhevlin Hotel in Enniskillen on Monday, September 11, between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

Elected representatives from Fermanagh, including UUP MLA Rosemary Barton and DUP councillor Raymond Farrell, have also urged local people to attend to ensure that their voices are heard.

Both Mrs. Barton and Mr. Farrell have called on the South West Acute Hospital to be upgraded to offer a “hyperacute” stroke service to complement the existing unit.

Highlighting the importance of retaining the stroke unit locally, Mr. Farrell said: “There is a very clear body of evidence which indicates that people in rural areas are more vulnerable to strokes as those in urban areas. The risk in males in Northern Ireland between the ages of 40-54 has also doubled over the last 12 years.”

He added: “To reduce the services in Enniskillen will require up to 1,500 extra ambulance journeys to other places and where are these ambulances going to come from?”

Meanwhile, members of Fermanagh Stroke Support Group who attended the pre-consultation meeting in Omagh said they were left feeling “angry, disappointed and felt that their views had not been taken on board”.

The support group had organised a mini-bus to transport local people who wanted to go to the meeting.

In a post on its Facebook page, the group stated: “So many of the comments of support seemed to be dismissed.”

Enniskillen woman, Rita Cassidy, who was among those who attended the meeting, said she found it “very unhelpful”.

UUP MLA Mrs. Barton, who was also there, said there had been a “full and frank discussion” following a presentation from the HSCB.

She said: “I was very disappointed that the presentation included figures and scenarios from conurbations in England, but no equivalent figures relating to a rural area like Fermanagh and Tyrone were even considered.

“Further, there was no reference made in the presentation to the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme that showed the South West Acute Hospital was equivalent to the services of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and indeed was a centre of excellence in Stroke Management and Care.”

In response to the concerns raised over the meeting, a spokesperson for the HSCB said this week that the feedback recorded at the Omagh event would contribute to the development of the full public consultation, due to start in the autumn.

She said: “It is important to note that no decisions have been taken on any services. This process at present is about gathering a broad consensus for the key proposals for full consultation before we start to look in more detail at how and where services will be provided from in the future. Any changes to current services will require a full public consultation process.”

The spokeswoman added that the pre-consultation period would end on Friday, September 15.

Details about the pre-consultation, and how to respond, can be accessed on the HSCB’s website at: http://www.hscboard.hscni.net/stroke/