Hugh Scullion Workers Party Representative for Mid-Ulster has spoken out against the proposals to create a Three Tier Hospital system.
Hugh Scullion Workers Party Representative for Mid-Ulster has spoken out today after the Party submitted their response to the Hospitals—Creating A Network for Better Outcomes.
He said despite what the document says about the delivery of services locally, the trend towards centralisation is implicit throughout. The promise off services delivered locally and at home by GPs is laughable given that patients are currently angry because they cannot access appointments through their local surgeries, yet this forms part of these proposals. Hugh also said of these local and general hospitals.
They are all located in rural areas and will place an unfair and unequal burden on those communities and for patients and service users who may be vulnerable and have complex medical needs. Hugh continued there should be a full Equality Impact Assessment on how these proposals impact rural communities before any decisions are made, this should have happened before these proposals went out for consultation.
The workers Party would agree that the regional structures are not fit for purpose and never were. The whole rationale behind the creation of Health and Social Care Trusts was to facilitate the introduction of the internal market, and the framework was designed to create competition not co-operation and to force Trusts to bid against each other to deliver not better but cheaper services. The Workers Party is opposed to the so called purchaser/provider split that allows not only the Trusts to compete with each other but allows for the private sector to supply services to patients. Scotland and Wales have abolished the split model and run all thier healthcare services directly. The Workers Party is calling on Northern Ireland to follow suit.
Hugh concluded by saying the Minister and the Department have ignored an opportunity to look at the Health structures in Northern Ireland and to provide a cost analysis relating to maintaining six Trusts each with its own senior and middle management structures and Trust Boards. Six LCGs and all of the other agencies to numerous to mention, which draws Financial support away from direct patient care. The document flags up issues with travel and health inequalities but offers no solutions or remedies, and also paints a picture of our National Health Service in a continuous state of instability with its promise of more reviews and service restructuring.