"Adult Learning Disability Services"

My learning disabled son had dental and podiatry surgery under general anaesthetic at Altnagelvin Hospital towards the end of last year and I wish to express my sincere gratitude to those staff under both disciplines who pulled out all the stops to make it a joint procedure. The dental surgery was pre-planned but the podiatry surgery was an emergency add on just nine days after contact being made by myself with the Omagh Podiatry Service. Thanks to the Podiatry Team, for the urgent podiatry referral to Altnagelvin and a very special  thank you to the Community Dental Service and the Podiatry Specialist for Adult Learning Disability who carried out the respective procedures in such a compassionate, caring and professional manner. 

My only criticism is the fact that the southern sector within the Western Trust area (the Omagh/Enniskillen area), which is a large geographical area, does not have a learning disability podiatry screening service similar to that available in the Derry/Londonderry area. Had this been in place, my son’s podiatry problem would most likely have been picked up and dealt with much sooner rather than as an emergency response to an approach instigated by myself. I hope this service anomaly will be rectified very shortly.