Time to talk about health and social care services

A matter of public urgency

The Workers Party has backed the call by trade union UNISON for an independent public inquiry into  A&E services in Northern Ireland following the collapse of services at the Royal Victoria Hospital this week.

Party spokesperson John Lowry said, “It is now a matter of public urgency that the circumstances and causes which led to the appalling events at Northern Ireland’s largest hospital are fully and openly investigated”.

“These scenes will be repeated”, Mr Lowry warned.  “It is an insult to patients, relatives, staff and the public to pretend that this was one off incident.  Masking the real causes by referring to it as a ‘major incident’ is also dishonesty. The reality is that closing A&E departments and slashing the number of beds results in the kind of horrendous scenes we have just witnessed”.

“Only a public inquiry can bring those facts to the fore and start to reverse the policy of cuts, cuts and more cuts”, Mr Lowry concluded.