New surgeons join Erne medical team

Catriona Loughran • Published 10 Dec 2009 09:00 0 Comments

See also:

Two Consultant General Surgeons recently appointed at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen say the Western Trust is actively and successfully recruiting despite concerns the Trust still relies on agency-based staff to temporarily fill vacant positions.

Mr Seamus Dolan and Mr Mark Grannell took up the respective posts in September and October and are among three general surgeons appointed by the Western Trust within the last few months with the remaining surgeon taking up a third post at Altnagelvin Hospital.

The two surgeons are replacements for the six-surgeon team based at the Erne who work across the hospital's acute service spectrum with Mr Dolan specialising in endocrine surgery and Mr Grannell specialising in vascular surgery.

As recently promoted consultants, they will also work one day a week in Tyrone County Hospital across its day procedure, outpatient, endocscopy units but are primarily based in acute services at the Erne.

Before returning to his native home of Florencecourt, Mr Dolan worked in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and decided to return to the county with his family for "a better quality of life".

"It's been great. We have always been frequent visitors to Fermanagh so it came as no surprise that we moved when given the opportunity," he said.

Originally from Co. Waterford, Mr Grannell studied and trained in Dublin and took up a position in the Midlands before moving to Liverpool with his family to do a Fellowship of Master Surgery.

Like Mr Dolan, he too had similar reasons for moving to Fermanagh and lives in Monea with his family.

"It was a combination of things, the quality of life is fantastic here and I think the prospect of a new hospital needs to be embraced. It's a fantastic development that will improve the healthcare of the local rural population and I'm excited about working in it as a new consultant to the county. I'm certainly joining a well-established surgical team and we have an excellent working relationship here. I also moved to Fermanagh because of the fantastic Northern Ireland education system, Fermanagh has some of the best schools in the north and came highly recommended".

At last Thursday's Western Trust Board meeting in Enniskillen, Chief Executive Elaine Way said she was very pleased with the "high quality appointments" and said it was "good news" for the Western Trust area.

It was suggested that the Trust needs to reduce their agency and locum spend by £400,000 by the end of the financial year indicating that October was "particularly bad" for agency rates.

Mrs Way admitted recruiting junior positions was their "biggest challenge" and said the Trust depends on locums in order to "keep a safe service".

In regards to recruitment, Director of Acute Services Joe Lusby also pointed out there has been interest from Southern-based doctors for Northern-based positions.

Asked whether he could see more of his Southern colleagues taking posts in Northern Ireland, Mr Grannell said it would depend very much on the individual.

"There is no doubt there is a better quality of life in Fermanagh. For me I moved from England because I wanted to return to Ireland but It's a completely individual thing and it's not an easy decision to make especially if you have kids that are happy in schools. I'm delighted to come back to Ireland but in terms of consultants moving from the south I could imagine it could be a difficult thing as stability is important for people especially in times of recession so it really depends on the individual and their situation."

Mr Dolan said, "The good thing is that established consultants have moved from other consultant posts, which is usually the most difficult type of recruitment to achieve so it is a good sign for the Erne hospital".

And since the recruitment of other posts across the Western Trust area, both surgeons agreed there is a very "positive feel about the place".

Mr Dolan continued, "The positive thing here is that the Erne is recruiting and this will send out an encouraging message to the public. I'm impressed in the active role consultants take in teaching junior doctors here at the Erne and we already have been asked by junior doctors on how they can come back because they like it here so much. The Erne Hospital is a collegiate, it's a pro-active and busy unit and hopefully we see the return of these junior medical staff and encourage them to stay and take up senior positions in the future".

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 10 Dec 09

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.