Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have pressed Health Minister Robbie Butler over the future of emergency general surgery at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, which has been suspended for four years.

During questions at Stormont, Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Deborah Erskine asked the Minister whether he would make a decision to restore the service and, if so, when. She expressed concern that the development of elective overnight care centres should not be used to allay concerns about the removal of emergency surgery.

Ms Erskine also raised the impact on trauma cases, staffing levels, and ambulance cover in a rural area, warning that people in Fermanagh have very real concerns.

Mr Butler said he understood the concerns but stressed that any reconfiguration of health services would need to be clinician-led and go through a rigorous process. He said the impact on the ambulance service and availability for patients requiring emergency care would need to be considered before any permanent changes were made.

Sinn Féin MLA Áine Murphy said staff and patients had been left in limbo since the service was suspended and asked when a decision would be brought forward on its future.

The Minister described the issue as a live topic and said the Western Trust was working with stakeholders on a vision for health and social care services across Fermanagh and west Tyrone. He said any proposal for a permanent change to emergency general surgery would require supporting evidence and would have to go through established commissioning governance and assurance processes.

Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist MLA Diana Armstrong asked about plans to expand the capacity of the elective overnight stay centre at the hospital. Mr Butler said the continued expansion was a priority and that the Western Trust had recently recruited a new gynaecology consultant who would deliver additional inpatient and day-case sessions each week at South West Acute Hospital.

The Minister said the hospital was now providing more elective activity than ever before, with almost 300 core elective theatre sessions and more than 70,000 theatre minutes delivered in the first five months of 2026-27, an increase of approximately 50 per cent compared with the same period in 2024-25. Almost 700 patients underwent procedures during that period.

Mr Butler said South West Acute Hospital remained a valued and integral part of the hospital network and that he wanted to see increased capacity and throughput at the hospital. He added that users should be at the centre of any conversation about transformation, reset or reconfiguration.