Western Health and Social Care Trust

 

Overview of the Trust

The Western Health and Social Care Trust was established on 1 April 2007. The Trust provides health and social care services across the council areas of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Limavady, in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. Services are provided from a number of hospitals and community facilities (130 different facilities across the Trust area), and people’s own homes across a mix of urban and rural communities. The Western Health and Social Care Trust has an annual budget of approximately £800m and employs almost 12,500 staff.  The Western Trust has several hospitals located throughout the west of Northern Ireland, these are: Londonderry Hospitals: Altnagelvin Hospital, Lakeview Hospital, Waterside Hospital, Roe Valley Hospital and Grangewood. Tyrone Hospitals: Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex and Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital. Fermanagh Hospital: the South West Acute Hospital

Geography

The Trust’s catchment area extends over 4,842km2 and serves a population of approximately 300,000, which represents 16% of the overall population of Northern Ireland. This, alongside high levels of multiple deprivation and related health inequalities in some areas of the Trust’s geography, creates significant challenges for service delivery for the Trust as a health and social care provider.

Our Services

The Trust provides a range of integrated Health and social care services – acute hospital services, mental health, learning disability and physical disability services, social care and primary and community care services. The majority of services are provided in community-based settings with access to specialist inpatient services available from a number of hospitals.

Acute Services

Altnagelvin Area Hospital is located on the outskirts of Londonderry. It is the main teaching hospital in the North West. It is the largest Acute Hospital outside the Greater Belfast area and has one of the widest range of specialities of any hospital in Northern Ireland. Altnagelvin is also a Cancer Centre and many of its specialties are area-wide services provided across Trusts or cross border. South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) is a modern, 100% single-room ensuite accommodation facility, which provides a wide range of major acute hospital services to patients from Fermanagh and Tyrone and beyond. Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex covers a range of key primary, secondary and community healthcare services for the people of Omagh and the surrounding district. The new hospital provides 40 intermediate care beds and includes a range of services such as reablement, palliative care, renal dialysis, a Health and Care Centre and an Urgent Care and Treatment Centre. It also provides advanced diagnostic services, together with 3-day surgery operating theatres and 22 recovery beds.

Our Aim

The Western Trust aims to: “Provide high quality patient and client focused health and social care services through well trained staff with high morale”. The Trust is committed to improvement by having 4 key strategic aims:                                           

• Great Start In Life
• Live Well With Long Term Conditions
• Great Place To Grow Old
• Great Place To Work

 Our Shared Purpose

• We will deliver best options
• People will experience safe, compassionate and high quality care
• Collaboration will be how we work
• People will be proud to work for us
• We will be a learning organisation

Locality

Derry, officially Londonderry is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name Doire meaning 'oak grove'. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, which is spanned by two road bridges and one footbridge.  The population of the Derry Urban Area at the 2011 census was 107,877. The district administered by Derry City and Strabane District Council contains both Londonderry Port and City of Derry Airport. Derry is close to the border with County Donegal, with which it has had a close link for many centuries. The person traditionally seen as the founder of the original Derry is Saint Colmcille, a holy man from Tír Chonaill, the old name for almost all of modern County Donegal, of which the west bank of the Foyle was a part before 1610. Derry~Londonderry made history in being chosen as the first ever UK City of Culture. In 2013 the city played host to a year-long celebration of culture in the city, attracting visitors from across the world. Derry is the only remaining completely intact walled city in Ireland, and one of the finest examples of a walled city in Europe. The walls constitute the largest monument in State care in Northern Ireland and, as part of the last walled city to be built in Europe, stand as the most complete and spectacular. Omagh Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 miles (109.5 km) to the east of Omagh, and Derry is 34 miles (55 km) to the north. The town had a population of 19,659 at the 2011 Census, and the former district council, which was the largest in County Tyrone, had a population of 51,356. Omagh contains the headquarters of the Western Education and Library Board, and also houses offices for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at Sperrin House, the Department for Regional Development and the Northern Ireland Roads Service at the Tyrone County Hall and the Northern Ireland Land & Property Services at Boaz House. The Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh includes the cottage where Thomas Mellon was born in 1813, before emigrating to Pennsylvania, in the United States when he was five. His son Andrew W. Mellon became secretary of the US Treasury. The park is an open-air museum that explores the journey made by the Irish (specifically those from Ulster) to America during the 1800s. The park is used to host events during Easter, Christmas, Fourth of July and Halloween. It also hosts a major Bluegrass festival every year. Over 127,000 people visited the park in 2003. The Gortin Glens Forest Park, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of Omagh is a large forest with a deer enclosure and several waterfalls and lakes.    Enniskillen Enniskillen is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 at the 2011 Census. Enniskillen Castle was built in the 15th century as a stronghold of the Maguires, before coming under English control in the early 17th century. The castle and town were expanded during the Plantation of Ulster. It was the seat of local government for the former Fermanagh District Council, and is the county town of Fermanagh. The town is situated on the banks of Lough Erne, the waterways are extensively used by cabin cruisers, other small pleasure craft and anglers. The town hosts a range of attractions including the Castle Coole Estate and Enniskillen Castle, which is home to the museum of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. Fermanagh is also home to The Boatyard Distillery, a distillery producing gin. Voted the happiest place to live in the UK in 2015, the area of Fermanagh and Omagh in Northern Ireland is a great place to live, work and play. And with Enniskillen topping the Traveller Review awards again in 2022, as the most welcoming place for visitors in the UK, this area has so much to offer. The Fermanagh Lakelands and the Sperrin Mountains sit within the geographical remit of the Western Trust, with breath-taking landscapes and truly awesome attractions. With the wondrous ‘Stairway to Heaven’ at Cuilcaigh, the magnificent Marble Arch Caves, and a range of National Trust properties, theatres, museums and outdoor activity centres, there is something for everyone