Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson MLA has blasted Edwin Poots for attempting to blame the funding crisis in the Department of Health on welfare penalties when in fact it is a direct legacy of the four year budget that the DUP and Sinn Fein set in 2011.

Jo-Anne Dobson said:

“Let us be clear, the health budget was protected in the last monitoring round so these are not £160m of cuts – this is an outcome of the totally ineffective and unworkable 2011-2015 budget. That budget was literally written by Edwin Poots and his colleagues and approved by Edwin Poots and his colleagues.

“I believe Edwin Poots when he says there is a crisis in our health service, it is just unfortunate that he didn’t act on it three years ago when he had the chance.

“Michael McGimpsey consistently warned in 2010/11 that the budget was not good enough and that lives were going to be put at risk. The DUP pilloried him, Peter Robinson called his stance obscene and Sammy Wilson claimed there was more than enough room to make cuts and that he had been given a ‘fair deal’ that ‘any other Northern Ireland Health Minister would be proud of’.

“Indeed, Sammy Wilson, when he was Finance Minister, said that it would not be appropriate for the Health Department to bid for extra resources in monitoring rounds. The reality has been very different. Last year the Health Department received over a record extra £100m through in-year monitoring rounds and even then it still overspent by £13m.

“The health of the population should be catered for in any budget agreed by the Assembly. It is clear the current course is unsustainable. Setting aside whatever games of political brinkmanship are currently being played between Edwin Poots and Peter Robinson, I believe a special meeting of the Executive is urgently required to ensure that the public’s safety is not further compromised.”