Cookstown Ulster Unionist Councillor Trevor Wilson has hit out at today’s proposals by the Health and Social Care Board to close Westlands Home in Cookstown.
Councillor Wilson, who is leader of the Ulster Unionist group on Mid-Ulster Council, said:
“The announcement that the Westlands Home in Cookstown is once again under threat of closure will be greeted with great dismay by many people in the area.
“It is not so long ago that the then Health Minister Edwin Poots visited Westlands and guaranteed that it would remain open for as long as the residents wished to stay there.
“Today’s announcement that there is to be a 12 week consultation on Westlands possible closure is a slap in the teeth to the residents and their families. By retaining the ban on permanent admissions this home is being closed by stealth and this is no way to treat the residents.
“Edwin Poots said he was not in the habit of pursuing closure, so what has changed? Residents and their families are not alone in asking if the new DUP Health Minister pursuing a different policy?”