The Western Trust have advertised for four consultant general surgeons on Thursday; however they will not be based solely at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).
Instead, the roles will be for four Trust-wide positions. This is in spite of Trust fears over the fragility of emergency surgery at the SWAH.
Currently there are only three consultants working at the SWAH, with six being the number required to run the service fully.
The last recruitment drive for general surgery at the SWAH was completed in January of this year; however, there were no appointments from this exercise.
Since 2014, there have been six completed rounds of recruitment by the Trust for consultant general surgeons.
The most consultants working in the SWAH at one time was five in February, 2019, according to Western Trust Director of Acute Services, Geraldine McKay.
With there being no open recruitment exercise at present, there are no candidates currently under consideration for consultant roles.
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