The Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) has refused to take the opportunity to show its support for a hyperacute stroke unit at South West Acute Hospital.

This follows the release by the Department of Health of a consultation document on the future of stroke services in Northern Ireland. Fermanagh and Omagh District Councillor, Josephine Deehan, has hit out at the Trust for what she has called an “abdication of responsibility”.

The consultation document sees six options put forward. All six will see a hyperacute stroke unit at Altnagelvin with only two of the options providing the same at South West Acute Hospital (SWAH). The other options will see the eventual removal of all stroke services from SWAH. The WHSCT manages both hospitals.

This week The Impartial Reporter asked the Trust if it would be “coming out in support for one or both of these options that sees the retention of a Hyperacute Stroke Unit at SWAH?”

However the Trust said that it would not be making a statement regarding the stroke consultation.

Councillor Deehan, who is also a practising doctor, pulled no punches in terms of what line she believes the Trust should be taking.

“My own view is that if the Trust does not back the maintaining of acute stroke services at the South West Acute Hospital that it would be an abdication of their responsibility to the people of Fermanagh and Tyrone. The Trust has a responsibility to provide services to the people of the region and they should not be sitting on the fence on this issue and they should be advocating for the retention of a stroke unit in both hospitals.”

Councillor Deehan was severely critical of any possibility of the closure of the Stroke Unit at SWAH.

“I have no doubt that an acute stroke unit should be maintained at South West Acute Hospital. In the case of stroke, time is of the essence and it is vital that patients have access to potential life saving drugs as quickly as possible.”

Councillor Deehan was particularly scathing of the three site option put forward by the Department of Health, which would see all Stroke patients in the North initially treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Altnagelvin or Craigavon.

“The window is so small to receive the treatment that is needed. That is why the geography of the area must be taken into consideration when planning any service. The three-site model which is being proposed would simply leave it too far to travel for the people of the area, particularly the people of south and west Fermanagh.”

The consultation document from the Department of Health has cited transformation of stroke services in both London and Manchester as evidence of centralising services however Councillor Deehan is dismissive of the notion that any such comparison should be made.

“You cannot compare what we have here to areas of large population like London and Manchester. In those areas it is of course right to centralise resources but in a dispersed rural area like this you cannot apply the same model. Patients need treatment within a certain window and there is no way around that,” she stated.