ANOTHER stroke survivor has spoken to the Impartial Reporter about the Department of Health’s (DoH) plans to change how stroke services are delivered throughout Northern Ireland.

This follows Wednesday night’s DoH led public consultation in the Killyhevlin Hotel in Enniskillen which saw hundreds of local people in attendance.

In four of the six outcomes laid out in the proposal papers by DoH, the SWAH will lose critical stroke services.

Linda Donaghey is 45-years old. The Fintona woman suffered a brain stem stroke on a night out six years ago.

“I was in Sally’s in Omagh and I took a funny turn and started projectile vomiting, I thought it was food poisoning,” she said.

“I wasn’t drinking or anything – I thought I must have eaten something dodgy. I went to my friend’s house and then went home.”

Linda didn’t go to A + E but would eventually call an out of hours doctor who informed her he thought she had a stroke.

She said: “He sent me then to the SWAH and they discharged me because the CT scan came back normal.

“They thought it was a migraine or something and they discharged me – this was on the Saturday night.

“I then continued to have a lot of headaches and was very dizzy. I am a single mother and my eight-year old daughter was in the house and couldn’t understand why I was walking funnily.”

Linda would then collapse on the Tuesday night, so she was brought by ambulance back into the SWAH and was looked after by Dr Kelly.

She then had an MRI scan which showed she suffered a brain stem stroke.

Linda said: “I then spent two weeks in Ward 5 of the SWAH. SWAH were absolutely brilliant, I couldn’t fault them.

“I know they initially misdiagnosed because it didn’t show up in the CT scan but the treatment they gave me on that Tuesday was fast and repeated.

“It says on the advert, and it is true, every second counts and you don’t get it back.

“It’s vital in this area. Yes, we don’t have the same dense population as Belfast or Derry but that time travelling can be vital.”