Speaking in the assembly today Jim Allister said:
“There is probably no sector more afflicted with all the buzzwords that have become fashionable, like “transformation”, as if that is going to cover up the failures of the past and deliver a new utopia. We have to ask more probing questions. For example, did the previous Executive lead us in the right direction of providing basic healthcare by reducing the number of hospital beds by over 10% and then being surprised at the logjams — the near traffic jams — of people on trolleys in the corridors of our hospitals? The answer to all that now is, “Let us grab some nice buzzwords like ‘transformation’ and ‘improving outputs'”, from the very people who delivered much of the shambles that we have been afflicted by in recent times. I have to say that I see, essentially, in the Bengoa report and in the consultation document of last Friday, a stratagem for stripping out services from many of our hospitals that they presently provide, and it is being done on a well-tried template.
“The consultation document is a perfect example and model of this. In order to obtain the preordained outcomes of reducing and stripping out facilities in hospitals, you have to build a case — as they built, sometimes in a quite phoney way, in respect of the Belfast City Hospital emergency department for example, the closure of which was meant to be temporary but which was to avoid a consultation. The words used were “It’s not safe” and “We can’t get the staff”. We had an experience with the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine when it was going through a dark patch. There were those who were trying to diminish it, and the claim was, “We can’t get the staff”. Of course, that was rectified, because it could be rectified. However, very often, when government wants to do something, it sets up the various criteria to fit into where it wants to get to. That is why these criteria are so much about safety and about being clinician-led, as if that is the answer to everything. Most clinicians want a handy time in terms of if they can all work in the greater Belfast area then they will all choose to work in the greater Belfast area.
“So, devising the consultation document in those ways is geared, I suspect, to producing a stratagem of stripping out services in many hospitals. Where that concerns me the most is in respect of our rural community. This is the Minister who, when she wore the agriculture hat, brought the Rural Needs Bill to the House. She told us during the debates on that that:
“The key principles of the Bill mean that rural issues will be embedded, as a matter of course, in the development and delivery of all government strategies and policies; … government will take a joined-up and collaborative approach in taking account of rural needs when designing public services.” — [Official Report (Hansard), 8 March 2016, p13, col 2].
“It sounds great. Where did rural proofing come in the consultation that was issued on Friday? It was tucked in as a little afterthought on page 20. It was tucked in in terms in which it is quite clear that, “Yes, we will go through the motions, but we will not pay any heed”, because it contains the key phrase:
“fully engage in consulting rural communities before finalising the service change.”
“In other words, “We are going to make the change, then we will consult with the rural communities, and then we will finalise the change.”. Where is the embedding that was promised by this Minister in respect of rural proofing?
“Indeed, where is the rural proofing in Bengoa’s report? Did he ever even consult with rural interests? So, I fear that all of that is feeding into a reduction and diminishing of services for many of my constituents who live in rural areas.”