Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson, Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, has called on the Health Minister to clarify her position after one of the most senior medical officials in Northern Ireland said it was ‘extremely naive’ to the think politics could be taken out of health.
Dr Michael McBride, who splits his time between being Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer and Chief Executive of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, twice made the comments as he was appearing before the Assembly’s Health Committee.
Jo-Anne Dobson said:
“Health is too important an issue to keep getting caught up in political disputes or torn between competing ideologies. The Northern Ireland health service is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis with almost 400,000 people on a hospital waiting list. A new way forward is desperately needed. The Health Minister in the Republic of Ireland for instance wants to set up a cross-party committee to agree a 10-year plan for the health service, to be implemented regardless of who is in power.
“The surprising comments from Mr McBride however are markedly different to the soundings that Professor Bengoa and former Health Ministers have been making. Indeed, only in February the former Health Minister Simon Hamilton said "we need to take politics out of it as best as we possibly can."
“For such a senior health official now to be so dismissive of such efforts surely raises questions as to whether the current Health Minister is starting to back pedal on previous pledges.
“The decision to establish a panel of health experts to consider how to shape the local health system could be considered a step in the right direction towards taking some of the politics out of the local health service. Unfortunately, however, the decision to hold a so-called political summit only weeks out from May’s Assembly election undermined the process and gave many the impression the event was held for other more politically-motivated reasons.
“Nevertheless as we are only weeks out from the publication of the report by Professor Bengoa, and with final conversations still taking place, these comments from Michael McBride are concerning.
“Doing nothing is simply not an option – too many people are coming to harm as a result of the problems in our local hospitals – so I would hope the Minister does not give up on the agenda of listening to local clinicians and trying to put health ahead of political or Ministerial posturing.”