LETTER TO EDITOR FROM TOM CRAWFORD
IN your ,'Letter to the Editor' issue of the 28th June, A Concerned Patient' related his or her Comments on some aspects of life in the Tyrone County Hospital during a recent illness.
I wish to endorse every word in the letter, and have to add a few of my own, as a current Ward 7 patient recovering from an operation a week ago.
The standard of my care and treatment by all members of staff was of the highest order and I quickly observed the close, attentive relationships that build up between patients and staff, that is so essential in the 'settling in' process of hospital admission and subsequent discharge.
Some time ago, before the publication of the 'Hayes Report', you kindly allowed me to 'air my views' on where the new South West Hospital should be situated.
I agree with the proposals to have only one Board under the Assembly Executive replacing existing four, and three new Health and Social Care Systems, replacing 18 Trusts etc. With monetary controls now in the hands of our own Assembly, I am sure Mark Durken could 're-juggle' his list of priorities ' and recognize that hospitals, especially those that require urgent short term funding should receive same at the expense of many of the 'hair brained schemes' already in the pipeline.
If only the views expressed by Dominic Pinto, Consultant Surgeon in the Tyrone County Hospital, especially those relating to the 'Maternity Services in Tyrone and Fermanagh and I am sure well known by 'faceless manipulators' at a high level, were originally accepted in good faith from such an eminent person, countless thousands of pounds could have been saved on consultations, meetings, "glossy brochures" etc, and maybe more important, valuable patient time, and perhaps actual lives.
1 was also pleased he shares Dr Paul McGlinchey's choice of Omagh as a logical site but, more so that he backs up my 'Greenfield' or 'Browfield' location at the 'Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital Complex.
Your editorial emphasises the need for every family within a radius of say 20-25 miles of Omagh to support the ongoing protest, and I trust Saturday's protest will be supported by attendance linked to 'August 1998' proportions and followed up be related events.
'Anti-Omagh site' supporters' claim that the odds against another bombing type catastrophe, rule out the valiant efforts of the Tyrone County ever being required again, but please consider the following:
a) The main through traffic route for vehicles from the South of Ireland via Aughnacloy to Omagh (via Ballygawley Roundabout), to Strabane,
b) Belfast to Dungannon traffic to the Ballygawley Roundabout and 'linking in' to the Omagh to Strabane Road, are serious accident prone routes due to the continuous lines of large coaches, container lorries, tankers (containing many hazardous liquids), slow moving farm machinery, and private cars etc.
At any time, on any day of the week, just one series of events on these roads could lead to casualties/fatalities, on an 'Omagh or Enniskillen Bomb' scale.
I cannot trace any reference to this circumstance in any of the current accounts, but I feel it an important factor for serious consideration before a final decision on the 'Hayes Report' is made.
Tom Crawford
I wish to endorse every word in the letter, and have to add a few of my own, as a current Ward 7 patient recovering from an operation a week ago.
The standard of my care and treatment by all members of staff was of the highest order and I quickly observed the close, attentive relationships that build up between patients and staff, that is so essential in the 'settling in' process of hospital admission and subsequent discharge.
Some time ago, before the publication of the 'Hayes Report', you kindly allowed me to 'air my views' on where the new South West Hospital should be situated.
I agree with the proposals to have only one Board under the Assembly Executive replacing existing four, and three new Health and Social Care Systems, replacing 18 Trusts etc. With monetary controls now in the hands of our own Assembly, I am sure Mark Durken could 're-juggle' his list of priorities ' and recognize that hospitals, especially those that require urgent short term funding should receive same at the expense of many of the 'hair brained schemes' already in the pipeline.
If only the views expressed by Dominic Pinto, Consultant Surgeon in the Tyrone County Hospital, especially those relating to the 'Maternity Services in Tyrone and Fermanagh and I am sure well known by 'faceless manipulators' at a high level, were originally accepted in good faith from such an eminent person, countless thousands of pounds could have been saved on consultations, meetings, "glossy brochures" etc, and maybe more important, valuable patient time, and perhaps actual lives.
1 was also pleased he shares Dr Paul McGlinchey's choice of Omagh as a logical site but, more so that he backs up my 'Greenfield' or 'Browfield' location at the 'Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital Complex.
Your editorial emphasises the need for every family within a radius of say 20-25 miles of Omagh to support the ongoing protest, and I trust Saturday's protest will be supported by attendance linked to 'August 1998' proportions and followed up be related events.
'Anti-Omagh site' supporters' claim that the odds against another bombing type catastrophe, rule out the valiant efforts of the Tyrone County ever being required again, but please consider the following:
a) The main through traffic route for vehicles from the South of Ireland via Aughnacloy to Omagh (via Ballygawley Roundabout), to Strabane,
b) Belfast to Dungannon traffic to the Ballygawley Roundabout and 'linking in' to the Omagh to Strabane Road, are serious accident prone routes due to the continuous lines of large coaches, container lorries, tankers (containing many hazardous liquids), slow moving farm machinery, and private cars etc.
At any time, on any day of the week, just one series of events on these roads could lead to casualties/fatalities, on an 'Omagh or Enniskillen Bomb' scale.
I cannot trace any reference to this circumstance in any of the current accounts, but I feel it an important factor for serious consideration before a final decision on the 'Hayes Report' is made.
Tom Crawford
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0785
Published Date: 05-Jul-01
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.