A campaign group has written to newly appointed Health Minister Robbie Butler urging him to restore emergency general surgery at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen.

Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) said the service was removed more than three-and-a-half years ago on a temporary basis. The decision was taken by civil servants during the Covid-19 pandemic and has left people across Fermanagh and Tyrone with no clear plan for the future.

SOAS highlighted the distances some patients must travel for emergency surgery or trauma care. The group said it can be 90km from parts of Fermanagh to Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry, with journeys taking an average of two hours and up to two-and-a-half hours for those in the south west of the county. By contrast, the 60km between Antrim Area Hospital and Causeway Hospital takes around 45 minutes.

The campaign group also pointed to an ageing local population. It said 18 per cent of people in the area are aged 65 or over, a figure expected to rise by 28 per cent by 2030, making access to strong acute care increasingly important.

SOAS said it met the Western Health and Social Care Trust’s senior management team in February, including chief executive Neil Guckian. The group claimed Trust representatives confirmed there were no overriding medical reasons why an emergency surgical service could not be commissioned and restored on a sustainable basis, but said a new business case would be required.

A roadmap developed by SOAS sets out how a sustainable emergency surgical service could operate by combining appropriate local emergency services with existing uncommissioned capacity at SWAH, allowing the hospital to do more to tackle elective waiting lists.

The group said its campaign has received more than 180,000 statements of support, with backing from the Human Rights Consortium, trade unions, rural support organisations, schools and churches.

SOAS is now seeking a meeting with Minister Butler, citing comments from his Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows about the removal of emergency general surgery at Causeway Hospital. Those comments raised concerns around speed of access, tourism, the ageing population and Northern Ireland Ambulance Service cover. The group wants to discuss whether the same arguments apply to Fermanagh.

The letter concluded with a direct appeal to the Minister, stating that people in Fermanagh are being ignored and must not be forgotten.