Ulster Unionist Party Leader, Steve Aiken MLA, has written to the Secretary of State asking him to officially place the five Health and Social Care Trusts across Northern Ireland into Special Measures.
Steve Aiken said:
“Northern Ireland is in the midst of an unprecedented and dangerous health crisis. Never before in the history of the local NHS have so many people been forced to wait, and wait for so long.
“Earlier this week I said the problems have become so serious that it is now time for a health care emergency to be declared. The simple reality is patients are coming to real physical and mental harm because they aren’t being seen on time.
“The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland can no longer wilfully sit back as a member of the Government and continue to refuse to govern. Patients are dying as a result of the delays – it’s a humanitarian crisis.
“He must intervene and place the local Health Service into Special Measures. The day to day response to the crisis must then come under the oversight of a new board put in place by the Government. The precedent is regularly set across the rest of Great Britain.
“It is essential that both this outgoing Government, and the one that will come into place in a fortnight, take immediate action to respond to the crisis and ensure appropriate governance is in place to prevent patients coming to any further avoidable harms.”