17/11/2022
PRESS RELEASE
ISSUED ON BEHALF OF Letterbreen and Mullaghdun Partnership / MAGS NI
Embargoed until 7.30pm, Thursday 17th November 2022
LAUNCH OF MAGS NI IN RESPONSE TO RISK OF HARM TO MOTHERS AND BABIES
Women of Fermanagh including mothers, grandmothers and future mothers are coming together to campaign against the potential cuts to vital emergency surgery and consequently vital maternity services in the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) in Enniskillen.
LAMP (Letterbreen and Mullaghdun Partnership) has launched MAGS NI (Mothers and Grandmothers Speak NI) tonight at a community event held at the Church of Ireland Hall in Letterbreen. Films of how SWAH has helped women and babies survive were shown and these stories and more stories like them, will form the basis for the media campaign that is being rolled out seeking to draw international attention to the situation.
Speaking at the launch, Dianne Little said, "It is our intention through LAMP and MAGS NI to ensure the stories of mothers who need SWAH in an emergency are heard across the world. We need women of Fermanagh, NI and across the world to object to what is being proposed for women here, and get active now to protect our emergency surgery and maternity services by joining the campaign using
“It's an incredible situation that a newborn baby or a mother in labour could be lost here because of mismanagement, failure to consider impacts of plans or risk assess ideas”.
“We are simply far too isolated for such failures to be allowed. An independent external review is urgently needed. Meanwhile the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Rt Hon Chris Heaton-Harris MUST halt closure of wards and recruitment of four surgeons to run emergency surgery 2 hours away”.
"Fermanagh like all NI, is in a post-conflict area with high rates of PTSD - women must not be subjected to additional trauma, worry and fear”.
"Women in Fermanagh already have an 81% below average access to health care. The current wish list of surgeons, which excluded any criteria for access to emergency surgery adds insult to injury. We need equity in health care, not all the suffering, risks, trauma and expense heaped on one community”.
“SWAH, one of the most modern hospitals in Europe opened in 2012 and was built to attract staff to meet needs of 130,000 people in the South West of NI and cross border community needs. The location of the build followed an extensive decision making process over 5 years. The decision to locate acute services at SWAH, survived 3 judicial reviews and was firmly based on ensuring equity of access for the community needing accessible emergency health care and maternity services etc within the 'Golden Hour' was taken by an Independent Hayes Review Team.”
Former NI Ombudsman Dr Maurice Hayes led the independent team who decided that all the people in Fermanagh should have accessible health care within the vital golden hour. Currently, the location of SWAH means all communities across NI can reach acute services within an hour.
Dianne reiterated, “Without this location the entire south west, and Fermanagh in particular becomes a high risk sacrifice zone, the truth is that we can recruit staff to SWAH but international expert project work on recruitment to rural areas, WHO guidelines and more are ignored, in favour of other agendas”
“Now, when the community has no government, civil servants are, denying taking ‘decisions’ to turn SWAH into an elective only site, but taking actions to close the main surgical ward at SWAH and collapsing other vital services like dominos, following a review by a small working group of surgeons asked to consider the surgeon's needs. Emergency surgery is an essential link in many clinical services such as maternity services.”
Obstetric and gynaecological consultants in SWAH have said that “harm will come to patients”, the plan to remove emergency surgery from SWAH will have “catastrophic effect”, making it “unsafe for patients” and is “simply not practical or fair” and hours of transfer “could increase women’s morbidity /mortality rates and risk to their babies”
Time is of the essence as Dianne explains, “They are moving to close surgical wards on December 3rd, ending vital emergency surgery needed by mothers and babies, car and farm accident victims, and many other time critical emergencies. The idea that we must bypass a 10-year-old, state of the art £712m hospital built and funded with public funds to meet our access needs, and either head to Altnagelvin or Sligo Hospital, is just ridiculous.
“As lives will be at risk due to multiple failures, reckless decisions and actions and no government, we have launched an Emergency Appeal for help and support for women in Fermanagh. We want mothers to mobilise, share the film ‘Frightened in Fermanagh’ help the Fermanagh women be heard using the hashtag , make more videos in response using the same hashtag, to retain SWAH’s emergency surgical services and maternity provision in SWAH.”
Details of how people can support the campaign, including a sample letter of support, can be found on the website magsni.wordpress.com and people can follow the campaign on Facebook via the MAGS NI page.
ENDS
For more information, contact Dianne Little on 07776277774 or email liberty.hill@btinternet.com
Image for Press to accompany Press Release. Thanks to Hilary Benson (LAMP) Jenny McCrea (Ad Hoc) Cecelia Feely (LAMP) Linda Saunderson ( Ad Hoc) Bernie Mullally (retired midwife) and Dianne Little MAGS NI Coordinator
