Ulster Unionist Party Health Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson MLA has criticised the Health Minister Simon Hamilton over the scale of vacancies across Northern Ireland’s Health Service. Figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that at present there are 850 nursing vacancies and 243 doctor vacancies across Northern Ireland.
Jo-Anne Dobson said:
“This is clearly symptomatic of a much wider crisis in the Health Service. When you consider the fact that over one in five people in Northern Ireland are on a waiting list, the fact that workforce planning has been allowed to reach crisis point is simply inexcusable.
"It's important to note that these figures only represent four of our five local Trusts, with one still to report, so unfortunately the true extent of this failure is likely to be even worse.
“This cannot simply be attributed to the other, wider difficulties. These figures are indicative of a total failure by the DHSSPS to forward plan their workforce. This problem has not come as a surprise, it has been building over the last number of years, however the Minister has failed to take any pre-emptive measures to avoid the challenges that such a scale of vacancies are clearly contributing to.
“The Department has tried to defend its record by using a smokescreen that staffing has grown by 6%. In reality there are at least 1,100 positions that exist, but nobody currently filling them and I do not consider that a success.”
