Ramsey gives cautious welcome to proposed Health Service shake-up
Foyle SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey has given a cautious welcome to the announcement that the local Health Service is to be restructured.
Mr Ramsey (pictured) said while he welcomed the desire to streamline the Health Service and in particular make it more accountable to Simon Hamilton but for this to work a Minister was needed who was prepared to be accountable.
Mr Ramsey said: “With the recent in and out DUP ministerial go round, I have to say the public confidence just isn't there at this stage.
“Confidence in the structure of the Health Service in Derry is also undermined by the decision to open a detox centre in Omagh. Derry has campaigned long, hard and very publicly for such a centre.
“My, our fear is that further Derry lives will be lost unless Health Minister understands, acknowledges and brings forward plans for a local detox centre immediately.”
Returning to the shake-up of the Health Service as announced by Minister Hamilton, Mr Ramsey said: “Yes big changes need to happen in terms of health provision, particularly in this constituency, but big changes need to happen soon, rather than within the two to three year time frame required for this consultation, legislation and implementation.
“In terms of mental health provision in particular, Derry has been overlooked for a detoxification facility, dentistry provision, rising autism rates: While increasing delays in diagnosis, waiting lists that are longer than anywhere else on these islands, and nurses being refused the smallest pay rise of a mere 1%, mean our Health Service is creaking and cracking.
“Those same nurses who tend to our sick day and daily are a credit to society, it is only thanks to them our health service works at all. However the DUP Health Ministry has failed them time and time again.
Mr Ramsey concluded: “The Health Minister needs to do more than announce plans as Derry needs action now. I will be putting that directly to the Minister as we discuss how the decision was reached to open a detox facility in Omagh and not Derry, given the groundswell of support for it locally and the evidence base behind the call.”