The Save Our Acute Services group is holding a meeting in Lisnaskea on Thursday, April 9, at 7pm in St Ronan’s Hall. Attendees will receive an update on the campaign to restore emergency general surgery at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen and hear future plans.

Emergency general surgery was suspended at the hospital in December 2022. Patients from Fermanagh and Tyrone now travel to Derry for treatment. In July 2025, the Western Health and Social Care Trust board agreed to consult on permanently removing the service.

The Department of Health stated that any permanent change requires its approval. The SOAS group leads the effort against the removal.

Hundreds of people from Fermanagh travelled to Stormont this year to protest the proposed health service cutbacks.

SOAS wrote to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt after he declined a meeting due to ongoing legal proceedings. The group urged him to commission a new service for timely access to emergency surgery for Fermanagh and Tyrone residents.

SOAS spokesperson Donal O’Cofaigh said the group welcomed Nesbitt's intervention to halt the trust's consultation on permanent removal and his call for a hospital vision. O’Cofaigh noted support from UUP deputy leader Diana Armstrong MLA for restoration and her view on the hospital's underutilisation.

The letter asked Nesbitt to address conflicting statements on responsibility for a business case between the trust and the department's Strategic Planning and Performance Group. SOAS called on Nesbitt to direct the group to initiate restoration of the service at the hospital.