Western Trust moves to reassure public over hospital staffing

URGENT care and treatment provision at Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Centre recently had to close for a night because of staffing issues, according to a whistleblower within the Western Trust.

A frontline health care worker has alleged that, on Monday, July 1, the nurse-led minor injuries unit, which is supposed to be operational 24-hours-a-day, was forced to suspend its services.

Expressing their ‘deep concerns’ to the UlsterHerald, the discontented staff member, whose identity has been concealed to safeguard their relationship with their employer, said the following, “Urgent care in Omagh is closed tonight (Monday, July 1) due to no Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) being available to work.

“However, the trust is happy to pay two staff nurses to stay there all night with no patients as they are unable to see, treat and discharge patients themselves.”

Reacting to the situation as it unfolded, the staff member claims that their team at South West Acute Hospital asked for the two health professionals in Omagh’s Urgent Care and Treatment Centre to be sent to Enniskillen’s emergency department (ED).

“We suggested to management that they put up a sign, put it out on social media and send the two nurses up to the emergency department in SWAH to help look after our extremely busy department, ensuring safer care for our patients tonight, but, no, they couldn’t do that.”

When the UlsterHerald contacted the Western Trust for a comment on this particular incident, they answered in general terms, declining to speak specifically about what happened in Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Centre on the night of July 1.

A spokesperson for the Western Trust said, “The trust would like to reassure the public that the Urgent Care and Treatment Centre (UCTC) continues to provide 24/7 service on an ongoing basis. However, there are times when key members of staff are absent for various reasons, both planned and unplanned.

“Staff in both Enniskillen and Omagh work as a team in their attempts to deliver and sustain the services needed in the UCTC.

“The UCTC at Omagh is a key component of the trust’s Urgent and Emergency Care provision, and the trust aims to provide safe, high quality and sustainable services to our community at a time when locally, regionally and nationally, maintaining nursing workforces provides significant challenges.”