Hospital campaign group, Save Our Acute Services (SOAS), has expressed concerns with comments made in a Department of Health-commissioned review into Gynaecology which raised the need to review the future of maternity provision in the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).

The independent review was written by Dr. David Richmond, from the GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) team at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London.

The report stated that: "Daisy Hill Hospital and the SWAH will continue as acute delivery units although this should be subject to debate as centralising services, particularly where travel times are relatively short, would free up clinical time and space for other elective women's services."

The campaign welcomed the response to the report issued by the Western Trust management which stated that they remained entirely committed to full maternity service provision at the hospital, but feel some want the service removed.

SOAS stated that the review demonstrated a complete lack of appreciation of the challenges for rural communities that would result from closing maternity at the SWAH.

SOAS spokesperson, Donal O'Cofaigh, said: "This independent review was commissioned by the Department of Health. It is deeply concerning that it suggested the need to debate the future of maternity services at the SWAH.

"This review is the latest example of a surgeon based in London trying to impose a model of provision which might work in a city - not one of the most rural parts of the UK.

"The fact that they branded as 'cultural' the demand from women for gynae appointments at their local hospital, instead of at a hospital two hours away, tells you all you need to know about how much they understand our realities.

"These sorts of reports - written by people with no appreciation of our geography - can have no role to play in shaping future provision in Northern Ireland."

This is in reference to an example quoted in the report about patients in Altnagelvin travelling to the SWAH which stated there was a "cultural issue in the west" with patients expecting all treatment to be provided locally. 

However, SOAS claim this statement was made without any appreciation of the distances involved, the quality of roads, or the absence of public transport connections.

Mr. O'Cofaigh went on to say: "The decision to temporarily remove Emergency General Surgery from the SWAH by the Western Trust was always going to undermine other services at the hospital.

"Our campaign warned of the likelihood of an adverse impact on maternity services from the very start.

"The only way to reverse such threats is for the incoming Stormont Health Minister to quickly confirm the goal of restoring acute and emergency surgery at the SWAH and to then roll out an ambitious rebuild strategy to deliver that goal.

"Such an approach will require the co-location of a range of surgical services, including Bariatric and Gynae/Obstetrics.

"In particular, we need to see the rules applied for unavoidably small hospitals in England introduced in Northern Ireland - we need a model that understands the need for access to acute and emergency provision, but which also works for our population."