DEAR MADAM, - Following on from my ex-work colleagues and ex-union comrades’ letter, Benny Cassidy hit the nail on the head regarding his appraisal of what is so fundamentally wrong within the Western Trust.

I too have long service and unfortunately due to ongoing health issues I have to take early retirement.

I have witnessed many changes over the years and believe that whenever there is a Tory Government in place that management adopt a more ruthless style of management.

The front line workforce always bear the brunt of any cost cutting exercises.

It does not take much imagination to work out where the problem lies - the biggest cost comes from the over reliance of locum doctors.

We were led to believe that once the SWAH was up and running that the SWAH would attract doctors that were willing to come to Fermanagh.

Having campaigned so vigorously with others to save the Erne Hospital, I am left disillusioned how things have turned out.

For example, the role of a hospital telephonist - these people are low paid but yet have probably one of the most demanding and stressful jobs within the Trust.

They have responsibilities beyond their job descriptions and contractual remit, for example, not only do they have to deal with emergencies such as major incidents, traumas, cardiac arrests etc, they also have the distraction of some irate members of the public wishing to exit a car park by continually pressing a buzzer and believe me this is a very common occurance.

For all the Western Trust’s policies and procedures, they are not worth the paper they are written on when it comes to saving money.

On a much broader outlook, the Tories are hell bent on privatising the NHS so that their rich Tory friends can profit from this. This is the biggest threat that we are all facing and it’s time to unite and be proactive to save our NHS.

Yours faithfully, FRANK DUFFY