Campaigners calling for the restoration of emergency general surgery at South West Acute Hospital have submitted nearly 13,000 individually signed survey responses to the Western Health and Social Care Trust.

Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) delivered the responses to the Fermanagh and West Tyrone Health and Care Futures Programme Management Office in Omagh on October 29 after a dispute over the handover location.

Father Brian D’Arcy, a prominent campaigner, said the latest submissions brought the total number of responses gathered by SOAS and its supporters to around 90,000.

He accused the Trust of repeatedly refusing to recognise the strength of public feeling on the issue.

Emergency general surgery was suspended at the hospital in December 2022, and the campaign for its restoration has continued amid uncertainty over future provision.

Father D’Arcy said SOAS had previously gathered almost 80,000 responses through its own surveys, but the Trust rejected them on the basis that they had been facilitated through the campaign group and therefore counted as a single submission.

He said the latest exercise was undertaken following indications from the Health Minister that the results of a new survey would help inform decisions about the future of emergency surgery at the hospital.

However, he questioned why the hospital was not mentioned in the survey and said SOAS was not consulted before it was introduced.

The original survey was exclusively online, prompting pressure for a paper option. Campaigners then distributed paper copies and asked residents to sign individually, confirming their response was made in a personal capacity rather than as a member of SOAS.

The deadline for submissions was extended from September 30 to October 31, allowing the campaign to gather almost 13,000 individually signed responses.

Father D’Arcy said the manner in which previous responses were treated was hurtful and demeaning, and that people across Fermanagh were being denied a meaningful opportunity to influence decisions about their healthcare.

He added that the Trust had a responsibility to listen to communities as a publicly funded health service provider.

The Western Trust said it remained committed to working openly with the public and that the Health and Care Futures programme is about listening to people’s views to develop a long-term vision for health and social care.

It stressed that the programme is not a consultation on a specific proposal to change services and that no decisions have been made about permanent arrangements for emergency general surgery.

A spokesperson said findings from the engagement process are expected to be published by early March 2027.

Any proposal for a permanent change to emergency surgery would go through a separate formal public consultation, which the Trust is planning to begin in early summer 2027, subject to Trust Board approval.

The final decision would rest with the Department of Health and the Health Minister.

On the handover dispute, the Trust said arrangements had been agreed for delivery of the responses in Omagh, not at the hospital.

SOAS arrived at the Enniskillen hospital on Thursday and criticised the Trust for not being there to take delivery, but the Trust said the campaigners had not made prior arrangements to deliver the material at the hospital.

Chief Executive Karen Hargan said she respected the right of SOAS to campaign but raised concerns about the decision to bring the responses to the hospital, accompanied by filming and publicity.

She said a busy hospital should not become the setting for publicity activity that could cause concern for staff or potentially impact patients and families.

A senior member of medical staff at the hospital said hospitals are places of care where the wellbeing of patients, families and staff must come first.

The Trust said it had again offered to meet with SOAS representatives to discuss how the questionnaires were distributed and how the responses were collected and managed, to help inform how the material can be appropriately considered.