A32 Omagh Road and Air ambulance

Finally!!!!! A new, improved A32 Omagh to Enniskillen road. A £6 million road realignment from Cornamuck to Enniskillen was given the go ahead last week. Not before time, especially as it was reported last month, that the Air Ambulance service is also to be allocated to Enniskillen. No commencement date has been given yet as funding for the works will not be available for some time. The people of Omagh and district have long awaited this decision since maternity services were removed from the Tyrone County Hospital and relocated to the Erne Hospital 21 years ago. To my knowledge   , part of the contract put forward  to secure services which were removed from “The County” to “The Erne “ , was a better road system to aid the emergency services have a fast , efficient and safe journey.

As someone who almost lost a family member in a road traffic accident (on the A32 I might add), the length of journey, road conditions and lack of Air Ambulance almost cost him his life!

The A32 has been the cause of the highest number of fatal road deaths in the North in the last 10 years, the most dangerous road in the six counties is the route to “our” hospital.

Anger and disappointment, along with a touch of fear, were the emotions felt when Enniskillen was chosen as the site for the new hospital and our only hope of some kind of reassurance should an emergency occur, was the allocation of the Air Ambulance to Omagh, but, because of a better infrastructure, Enniskillen won out yet again ( St Angelo Airport is next to SWA and can provide a more suitable base for the helicopter service. Nothing to do with the fact that one of the main sponsors for the Air Ambulance is from that area)

It was argued by campaigner Kevin Taylor that Enniskillen is not central enough to cater for the entire North and that a blind man could see that Tyrone was the obvious choice. It would make you wonder who is really making the decisions around here.

Anyway, I suppose we should be thankful for a state of the art education campus instead. Our children will have every educational need seen to, I just hope they don’t get sick!