Campaigners in Omagh are considering taking legal action overr a British government decision to strip the town hospital of its life-saving acute services.
The Northern Ireland Office Health Minister, Mr Des Browne, yesterday announced that a new acute hospital serving the south-west region will be built in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, and not in Omagh.
He said it was the most difficult decision in his project, which will involve £1.2 billion investment over 10 years. It is the most significant programme of acute hospital reorganisation ever in the North.
Campaigners expressed disappointment and anger that Omagh had missed out and that the Tyrone County Hospital is to lose its acute services in favour of the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen.
The 1998 Omagh bomb had highlighted the need for acute services in the town, they had argued.
After months of speculation, Mr Browne effectively upheld the recommendation of Enniskillen by the former Sinn Féin Health Minister, Ms Baírbre de Brun. The reorganisation will involve reducing acute hospitals in the North from 15 to 10.
Acute services will be retained at the Mater Hospital in north Belfast following a highly effective campaign by local people.
Other acute hospitals will be based at Altnagelvin, in Derry; Belfast City; Antrim; Causeway, in Coleraine, Co Derry; Craigavon, in Co Armagh; Daisy Hill in Newry, Co Down; the Royal Group; and the Ulster Hospital.
The four hospitals in addition to Tyrone County which will lose the ability to carry out emergency surgery are Whiteabbey, in Co Antrim; Mid Ulster, in Magherafelt, Co Derry; Lagan Valley, in Lisburn, Co Antrim; and Downe, in Downpatrick, Co Down. They will not be closed but will be transformed into local hospitals.
Sinn Féin MP for West Tyrone, Mr Pat Doherty, said he was "deeply disappointed" Omagh had lost out.
"It is the area of greatest need when it comes to the social economic factor. This is not the end of the fight. Taking a legal challenge is one of the things we will have to consider."
The Ulster Unionist Assembly member for West Tyrone, Mr Derek Hussey, said he was bitterly disappointed at the decision which "flies in the face of logic" with Omagh having a higher catchment population. West Tyrone SDLP Assembly member Mr Joe Byrne said it was "a deeply flawed decision". For 20 years the health authorities had been determined to downgrade Omagh as an acute hospital location, he said.
DUP health spokeswoman Ms Irish Robinson said it was vital acute services were geographically spread across the North to ensure a high quality of care for patients.
Ms Monica McWilliams, of the Women's Coalition, welcomed the decision on the Enniskillen hospital.
"It is clear there were merits in both of the proposed locations for the new hospital, but Enniskillen will better provide for the population of the western part of Northern Ireland," she said.