Omagh Town Councillor Paddy McGowan has warned that many of those who have been commenting on the Report on distances from Hospital published by the University of Sheffield have fallen into the trap of taking the distances to hospital from Omagh town.

Mr McGowan pointed out that whereas it is 28 miles to Enniskillen from Omagh town , if you have to go to hospital from other parts of the district such as Greencastle or Gortin that distance can be as much as 45 miles. He went on to say that the distance from Carrickmore to Altnagelvin was closer to 50 miles.

His comments follow findings in the report that people with heart or respiratory difficulties are in greatest danger from having to travel long distances to get to hospital.

"I've been listening to some of the comments and you'd think from listening to them that it's only the people of Omagh town who get sick."

The former board member of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Trust said, "It's now well known that distance can kill when it comes to getting seriously ill people to hospital quickly. Omagh district is one of the furthest from acute hospital cover in the whole of the UK."

He continued, "Promises given by the various health ministers that nothing would leave Omagh until something else was put in its place are coming home to roost, but wards have been closed and services have been stripped."