The Department of Health’s (DoH’s) proposals to change how stroke services are delivered throughout Northern Ireland have been criticised by yet another local stroke survivor.

Ciara Murray is 35 years old. She had a stroke four years ago when she was at home alone.

She spoke with the Impartial Reporter at the advice centre of the Enniskillen-based group – Save Our Stroke Services.

Ciara said: “It’s an absolute disgrace that they would even think about closing the stroke unit at SWAH.”

“The Belfast area gets everything all the time. Us down here, we get nothing.

“If you live in Lisnaskea or Belleek you have even further to go than Enniskillen. It’s a crazy idea that they could even think about closing the stroke unit in the SWAH.

“It’s human rights, we deserve to have the stroke services in SWAH. In the questionnaire, Option A keeps all five hospitals open – that’s the best way.”

The questionnaire, which Ciara referred to, forms part of the public consultation process DoH is currently engaged in which will ultimately lead to changing how stroke services are delivered throughout Northern Ireland.

In four of the six possible outcomes laid out in the consultation papers the SWAH will lose critical stroke services.

Ciara added: “If anyone in Enniskillen, or parts of Tyrone, has a stroke and SWAH’s stroke unit is closed, they’ll be dead.

“They won’t get up the road to Derry, Craigavon or Belfast. They’ll be dead before they get there.”

When Ciara had her stroke, she was lying for seven hours on her own before her husband got home from work and called the ambulance.

She said: “That’s why I got so bad, because I was lying all that time. But I then got brought straight into SWAH and I was lucky because I was 37 weeks pregnant.

“They scanned me and the baby. They knew I had a stroke and I went straight up the road to Belfast.”

The next day a clot was taken out of Ciara’s brain and her baby was delivered as well.

She continued: “I was then in intensive care and I didn’t wake up for ten days after that. I didn’t know the baby was born.

“I was in intensive care again for two weeks, so I was in the Royal in Belfast for a month in total.”

Ciara was then transferred back to SWAH for ten weeks for rehab, to build herself back up.

“That’s where the hard work started,” she said.

“After the ten weeks there I went back to rehab in Musgrave Park’s brain injury unit.

“I was in hospital for six months. If it weren’t for SWAH being on our doorstep, so they could scan me for the stroke and the baby, I’d be dead.

Ciara feels that this whole process is based around cutting costs. “They’ll tell you it’s not though,” she said.

“Why should we have to go to Belfast or Derry when we have the best stroke staff and facilities in SWAH?

“The doctors and nurses are so good. Belfast and Derry can learn from SWAH for a change.”

The SWAH got rated a grade A in the latest audit run by the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP).