A large crowd gathered at the Castle Park Centre, Lisnaskea on Tuesday evening as the first of a series of community meetings regarding the threat to emergency surgery at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) was held.

Following the news of the fragility of emergency surgery at the hospital, a steering committee was created and meetings organised for people around the county to come out and voice their support for the SWAH.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Councillor Eamon Keenan was one of the organisers of Tuesday’s meeting, and he was pleased with how the meeting went and the willingness of the local community in South Fermanagh to get involved.

“There was a lot of anger in the room, with the [Western] Trust, and a lot of energy. There were a lot of good points raised by people on the floor,” he said.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Keenan hit out at the lack of transparency from the Western Trust around services at the SWAH, saying: “This isn’t the first attack on our services at the SWAH.

“We are at the stage now that we know that [regarding] emergency surgery, they [the Trust] are planning to take it away.”

He further claimed: “I did say that the Trust was not very forthcoming with information, and they are holding the people of Fermanagh with a certain element of disdain, because they denied at the start that there was plans to close it, and now it is going out that there is.

“As well as that, they are not giving us a chance for a public consultation, which did happen with the stroke services and the medical imaging.”

Councillor Keenan also believes the campaign to retain services at the SWAH should be led by the people and political representatives.

“I think honestly it is not an accident that they are taking this service away, and it is going to have a knock-on effect in the SWAH.

“It’s not poor management, it’s not an accident, or a case they can’t get doctors. I think they are working off the Bengoa Report and that is a road map to privatisation.

“The majority of parties signed up to the Bengoa Report and that is what they are working on. And I think that is why it needs to be led by the people.”

Following the meeting, Councillor Keenan was encouraged by the initial uptake, and he is encouraging everybody to get involved in the fight.

“It was a very good start and it shows that there is a real fight on our hands, and the people of Fermanagh and Omagh are ready to take it on, going by that meeting last night.

“I would encourage everybody to get involved because it is going to affect everybody, and that was said last night. Young and old, it’s going to be right across [society]; no religious divide, no political divide – we will all at some stage need that hospital.”

The next meeting will be held in Derrygonnelly Community Centre on Saturday, November 5, from 4pm as campaigners look to spread the message about the SWAH in the lead-up to their planned mass protest on December 2.