The Ulster Unionist Party have claimed that the downwards trend in Northern Ireland’s Accident and Emergency Departments is now so serious that lives are being put at risk. The Party made the assertion after it was revealed that there has been yet another drop in the proportion of patients either treated and discharged home, or admitted within four hours, fell from 72.5% to 66.3% in the space of a year.
Party Health spokesperson Roy Beggs MLA said;
“With every publication of official waiting time statistics the situation appears to be moving closer towards a crisis. It is simply unacceptable that 1 in 3 people are now no longer being treated within the target period.’
“Last March when the Minister announced plans which were meant to tackle the problem he stated that he would ‘not accept poor or sub-standard services in our hospitals.’ Well over a year later the situation is actually worse with growing numbers of people waiting for unacceptable lengths of time. The Minister would do well to reflect on his previous remarks.’
“The delays currently being experienced in our A&E units are not just as a consequence of more people attending, or even people attending who don’t need to; they are inextricably linked to growing spending reductions in our health system and a failure to plan strategically at leadership level.’
“For instance Minister Poots is proposing to close vast swathes of our residential care homes, with the Northern Trust now even considering consultation to close all statutory residential homes. There is inadequate discussion on how respite care will be provided for the growing numbers of people dependent on domiciliary care. Little consideration seems to have been given to the need for other options such as additional sheltered housing and alternative residential care to fill the voids which will be left in local communities. This risks having a debilitating impact on our hospitals as elderly patients struggle to find suitable accommodation and support and therefore face a delay being discharged. With fewer free beds in hospitals it will then be inevitable that it will become even more difficult for our A&E units to work at full efficiency.’
“The Ulster Unionist Party believes however that one of the single biggest mistakes which the current Health Minister has made was the ludicrous decision to close the Accident and Emergency unit at the Belfast City Hospital. We continually warned against the closure of the Unit until a sufficient bed for bed increase had occurred in neighbouring hospitals to help them cope with the inevitable influx of patients. Unfortunately this did not occur and these figures are further proof that the Minister spectacularly misjudged that decision.’
The Minister needs to accept that his decisions have had a hugely prominent role in exasperating the current crisis.”