Ulster Unionist health spokesperson, Roy Beggs MLA, has welcomed the announcement of an additional £3m to help tackle winter pressures.
Roy Beggs said:
“Increased winter pressures on our emergency departments are not unusual. It’s traditionally the busiest time of year for our hospitals and we have an ageing population – the highest users of beds – along with a rapidly increasing demand, which is closely linked to the rising prevalence of long-term conditions right across the population.
“Whilst the recruitment of extra staff for domiciliary care and increasing the number of care packages available are very positive steps, the reality is they would have had a far greater impact had they instead been planned months ago and before the busy period had begun.
“The Health Department is right to say that thankfully the latest data shows that hospital emergency departments in recent weeks are performing better than in the same period a year ago. But the circumstances are very different – we have had a very unusually mild winter and last year’s strain of the winter flu was much more virulent.
“Yet even under these better conditions, thousands of people are still having to wait far longer for treatment than they should. So whilst I pay credit to all of our hospital staff, I would urge officials such as Richard Pengelly to not get caught up in comparing and promoting sets of data which are not at all the same.”
