BY NUALA MCALOON
Children from Fermanagh who had been on waiting lists for inpatient Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) operations at the Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh, have been told that if they live more than 30 minutes away, they are now being put on a waiting list to have the operation carried out at the Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
A concerned parent who contacted the 'Herald' this week, said her family would now have to travel more than an hour and half away so that her son could get his tonsils removed.
Prior to this new arrangement, children were being shipped out of the Omagh hospital and housed in Bed and Breakfast accommodation as they recovered, as part of a pilot scheme.
With tonsillectomies, there is a potential to bleed post-operatively, especially within 24 hours. In children, this is more serious and can become an emergency situation more quickly because a child has a lower volume of blood. Because of this, the Western Trust, in consultation with the Department of Health, decided that in the interests of children's safety, all paediatric tonsillectomies should be treated as inpatients.
The B&B system for providing post-operation care after tonsil surgery had been initially condemned by Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott, who said it was both 'unacceptable' and a 'ludicrous waste of money'.
A Trust spokesperson, responding, explained that the B&B arrangement of accommodating families who had to travel long distances to the Omagh day case unit was piloted from January-April this year. It had been evaluated and agreed with the ENT team to discontinue that provision.
But, now, a concerned parent has said the decision to relocate children to Altnagelvin simply because they live outside a 30 minute travel distance is 'ludicrous'.
"My son has been on a waiting list to have his tonsils removed in Omagh since last Christmas. The consultant told us that because we lived over a half an hour from Omagh, we would have to stay in a B&B.
I didn't realise until I read it in the paper that this was a pilot scheme. I presumed that it would revert to an overnight stay in the hospital because this was only a pilot.
"But, yesterday I got a call from the ENT Department to say my son was now being put on a waiting list for the Altnagelvin in Derry because the distance between Omagh and here is over 30 minutes.
"I was dumbfounded to be honest', she stated. "It doesn't make common sense to have a parent from as far away as somewhere like Newtownbutler travel to Altnagelvin for what is such a routine procedure. Not only will this inconvenience me, but it will inconvenience a lot of families, many of whom will be unaware of the system until they get the call.
"I can't understand why Omagh don't have the facilities for an overnight stay when they had been doing it before, up to this."
She described the B&B issue as, 'ludicrous because it was such a waste of resources', and she now felt the new arrangements will have even more troublesome consequences for patients and their families.
However, in a statement to the 'Herald' this week, the Trust said its patients must and will always be its priority.
"While tonsillectomies are certainly a common procedure", the spokesman went on, "they should not be described as 'routine'. With all tonsillectomies, there is a potential to bleed post-operatively, especially within 24 hours.
In children, this is more serious and can become an emergency situation more quickly because a child has a lower volume of blood.
Because of this, the Western Trust, in consultation with the DHSSPS, has decided that in the interests of children's safety, all paediatric tonsillectomies should be treated as inpatients.
"There are no paediatric inpatient services at the Tyrone County Hospital", he explained, " so in a paediatric emergency, there would be no appropriately qualified doctors on site to deal with the situation.
As a result, children requiring inpatient ENT procedures need to be treated in Altnagelvin.
Adult ENT services, both in-patient and day case, continue to be delivered at the Tyrone County Hospital as well as more routine paediatric day case procedures. ENT outpatient clinics for both adults and children remain unchanged.
"While this change means children and their carers may have to travel some distances", he concluded, " the safety of the children in our care must be, and always will be, our first priority."
Meanwhile, Mr Elliott called for a practical review of the ENT services within the Trust.
"Now is the time to review this policy and if children cannot stay in Omagh hospital overnight there should be immediate preparations made to have these ENT services returned to the Erne hospital where there is overnight facilities.
"Where families live within Co Fermanagh it would make sense to have these ENT services available at the Erne Hospital and this would remove the additional strain of a family either being required to stay in a B&B or travelling the long distance to Altnagelvin in Londonderry.
There is obviously a significant anxiety on both the child having the operation and also the family at such a time, without being subjected to this additional worry and concern."
"There should be an opportunity here for the Western Health Care Trust to make an immediate positive impact and show good faith towards the local community in Fermanagh."
