BY MARK McKELVEY

The Western Health Trust has been accused of sabotaging the Urgent Care and Treatment Centre (UCTC) at the Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh so it can be downgraded to a nurse-led minor injuries facility.

A staff member of the Tyrone County Hospital (TCH) has told the UH that, in the past year, shift hours have been cut and travelling expenses scrapped for medical staff at the unit. Half-shifts with no travel expenses have made it impossible to recruit staff or even attract locums to the unit where staff feel humiliated and morale is low.

"We feel this is a conspiracy by the Trust to close the UCTC," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of dismissal.

As revealed in Monday's TyroneHerald, a high-level meeting of all medical consultants with the Trust clinical directors late last week rubber-stamped the removal of the last remaining acute medical service in the Omagh area. The reason given was "inadequate staffing" at the unit.

While admitting this week that the Western Trust is facing "recruitment challenges," director of Acute Services Margaret Kelly insisted the UCTC in Omagh is not set for closure. Her statement was echoed by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey who visited Enniskillen on Tuesday to view progress on the new acute hospital site there and also the new operating theatres installed at the Erne Hospital at a cost of £800,000.

However, the UH source at the TCH insisted a decision to downgrade the Omagh unit to a nurse-led status similar to what exists in Dungannon at the South Tyrone Hospital was made at the meeting of consultants and directors last week. It will now be sent for approval to the Minister.

"The information coming from this meeting to staff was that this decision will be implemented sooner rather than later."

Initially this will close the unit at 11pm and no ambulances will go to the UCTC at any time, the source said.

"All medical services will gradually be removed before the end of the year," the UlsterHerald was told.

It was also revealed that there is only one permanent doctor at the unit, instead of the five needed to run the UCTC services. On two occasions last month, there was no doctor on duty, leaving nurse practitioners with no back-up through the night shifts. However, it was said that the average attendance of patients at the UCTC is higher than the attendance at the A&E in the Erne Hospital where there are six doctors.

The TCH staff member said, "There used to be two doctors covering the UCTC per shift between 9am to 9pm and one doctor throughout the night. The Trusts A&E clinical director unilaterally, without any discussion, cut down the shift hours so two doctors were only needed from 11am to 9pm. Then one month later, this was cut to 1pm-9pm. Now the situation for the past month is that there are only two doctors on shift between 1pm and 5pm with the rest covered by one doctor.

"Due to these shorter shifts, the majority of outside locums will not come to work at the UCTC. The Trust also stopped their travelling expenses. This action has left the UCTC with a reduction of locums and now the Trust is crying that there are no doctors.

"Word of mouth about the way doctors are treated, hours of work and removal of travel allowance for locums means no doctor will work at the TCH. Most of the time there is no consultant available for the UCTC. They are only available by telephone to the Erne which is unsafe.

"We feel this is a conspiracy by the Trust to close the UCTC," the source said. "Doctors are being treated badly and the Trust has created these staffing problems as an underhand way of closing the UCTC.

"The Trust is trying to destroy the UCTC and have an excuse for its closure as it all comes down to money. It has successfully reached that goal as this meeting which has suggested it is downgraded to a nurse-led minor injuries unit."

Responding to these accusations a spokesperson for the Trust said, "The Western Trust has not reduced medical presence in the UCTC. The Trust is currently experiencing difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified permanent staff for the UCTC and is achieving cover by the use of locum doctors to replace unfilled posts. To improve the potential to recruit staff the Trust has introduced shift patterns similar to all other Northern Ireland hospitals (8 hour shifts) so as to make the posts more attractive. There are also limitations set nationally upon junior doctor working hours and the Trust is obliged to comply with these. Travelling expenses are paid as per nationally agreed Terms of Service.

"The Trust is committed to maintaining the UCTC in Tyrone County Hospital and into the new hospital as described in the Developing Better Services model. The Trust appreciates the hard work of all staff including those working in the UCTC."