Ulster Unionist Leader Steve Aiken MLA has said the total absence of any real intervention from the Northern Ireland Secretary on the deepening state of emergency in the health service is atrocious. He was commenting after nurses commenced a further 48 hours of industrial action.
Steve Aiken said:
“If nurses had taken the decision to strike in any other part of the United Kingdom, the Government would have noticed and taken action right away.
“Yet in Northern Ireland, for the second time in a fortnight, our nurses have been forced into the unprecedented action of refusing to work overtime shifts, as well as no longer working unpaid hours. The fact that the local system had become so utterly dependent on our nurses doing far more than they were paid to do is indicative of just how broken the staffing regime had become.
“Yet with the exception of one afternoon last week, our Secretary of State has been absent during what is the worst waiting times and staffing crisis in the history of the local NHS.
“Most medical leaders that I have spoken to over recent weeks are warning that this will be the worst winter ever in terms of flu, patient demand and staffing shortages. Whilst things are atrocious right now, what should make politicians of all parties sit up and listen, is that they could still become much worse.
“Julian Smith is our representative in the UK Government. He was appointed Secretary of State in July 2019, yet the system has only further deteriorated and even more patients have come to real harm. Julian should not be allowing the intransigence of the two largest parties and their failure to reach agreement on the devolved institutions, to halt progress or else he is as culpable as they are by using our health service as a political pawn.
“Whilst the health crisis must be the first and foremost issue on the agenda for next week`s cross-party talks, the reality is patients and staff are suffering now and they haven't got time to wait weeks or months to see if a deal can be reached. If there can be no immediate progress on tackling the waiting lists and restoring pay parity, then I really hope whoever the next Secretary of State is that they take a much more pro-active approach on the state of emergency in the local health service. We need health powers repatriated to Westminster for humanitarian reasons and a direct rule minister appointed to deal with it. We need action now.”