A acute-care hospital serving the west of Northern Ireland is to be built to the north of Enniskillen, it was announced today.
Northern Ireland Heath Minister Des Browne said the decision to place the hospital in Co Fermanagh and not in Omagh, Co Tyrone, was the most difficult decision in an investment programme amounting to £1.2 billion sterling over the next 10 years.
The decision means the 15 hospitals that provide life-saving services will be cut to 10.
The hospitals losing the ability to carry out emergency surgery will be the Mid-Ulster Hospital in Magherafelt, Whiteabbey, Co Antrim, the Downe in Downpatrick, Lagan Valley in Lisburn and Tyrone County in Omagh.
The decision to strip acute services from Omagh is expected to provoke a judicial challenge, but Mr Browne said it was important to move forward quickly.
It is understood the decision favouring Enniskillen was based mainly on accessibility - including access for the estimated 10,000 people who live south of the Fermanagh lakes.
The existing site of the Erne hospital in Enniskillen has been ruled out; the new hospital will be at a site somewhere to the north of the town.
PA