Kieran Downey, the man heading up the Pathfinder initiative for the Western Health and Social Care Trust, has said he has been “humbled” and “encouraged” by the meetings he has held with members of the public.

He went on to say that the members of the public he has met have not been “moaning and groaning” but have been very “solution focused” and have brought many excellent ideas to the table.

According to the WHSCT Pathfinder has been established “to create better, sustainable and affordable Health and Social Care services across Fermanagh and West Tyrone”.

The Trust has been holding engagement meetings with staff, community groups and members of the public.

Mr. Downey, Deputy Chief Executive of the WHSCT, was speaking following a meeting held in Ederney Community Centre this week. More meetings planned in Lisnaskea, Enniskillen, Bellanaleck, Irvinestown, Rosslea and Derrylin over the coming ten days.

“It has been important to get out and listen to people. To get right into the community and hear what people are saying. It has been humbling at times and it is clear where the issues are, and I also have to say that people have been pleased that the Trust has put its head above the parapet and are willing to engage. We are very encouraged by that,” he stated.

Mr. Downey admitted that while the meetings have been productive, they have highlighted problems that need addressing and he used a meeting held in Rosslea as an example of this:

“We went to Rosslea and it was a very chastening experience. We see a community that has lost its school and GP, has limited services, been affected by emigration and they have to travel to see their GP and avail of services. We must think about how we fix that. How we bring services to them. And the thing is that there are lots of Rossleas. We can’t expect people to be travelling to a centre point for services all the time and we have to find a solution.”

The meetings that have been held to date have seen common themes emerge with many relating to lack of local provision:

“What we are finding from talking to people is that there is a fear and concern about local services and issues. Domiciliary care, GP Services, loneliness in our elderly population. All of these things keep coming up,” Mr. Downey explained adding that he also believes there is a realism among the public when it comes to more specialised services:

“I think people are realistic, and it has taken a while for us as a community to perhaps get to that stage. But people realise that we are going to have to travel and network for the more specialised services. And that means as well as people travelling from Enniskillen to Altnagelvin for some services people will be travelling to Enniskillen for some services. It is about getting the best out of the resources that we have.”

During the meeting in Ederney, Mr. Downey spoke about the unique needs of rural communities. He explained that in Belfast domiciliary care can be provided to five houses by walking between them, while in Fermanagh the lane ways to some houses where care was needed are one mile long:

“We didn’t want to wait and see what Belfast or Derry, or Newry were going to do because it would have been a town or a city model. What we need is different. We are looking at parts of Scotland because parts of their geography is the same as ours but even that won’t be a tight fit. What we want is to grow something that fits our particular and unique needs. This is our one chance,” he said before adding:

“And the people know it is our one chance. And they have been coming out and it hasn’t been a moaning and groaning exercise. It has been solution focused and been very positive.”

“What we are finding is that there is a fear and concern about local services and issues. Domiciliary care, GP Services, loneliness in our elderly