The proposed closure of services at Bangor Community Hospital “proves that the DUP is mismanaging the health department”, according to North Down Conservatives’ PPC, Mark Brotherston.
“The decision to close the Minor Injury Unit and the 20 bed GP unit is shocking”, Mark said. “It exemplifies the health minister’s strategy of cutting front-line medical services, rather than the bureaucracy, over-administration and inefficiency which is crippling the NHS. The health service in Northern Ireland has 42% more medical staff per capita - managers and bureaucrats - than the NHS in England. Local DUP representatives may offer token protests at this decision, because Bangor Hospital is on their patch, but it is the policies of Jim Wells and Edwin Poots, their failures to tackle waste or implement management reforms, which are causing this closure and others around the province.”
“Shutting these services makes no sense in terms of delivering a modern NHS. They are situated in a major population area and they are both designed to reduce pressure on the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald. These are exactly the types of facilities which Transforming Your Care and other strategies were supposed to encourage. Right across the Executive, the first instinct is to cut front-line services, rather than do the difficult job of tackling waste. The South Eastern Trust and Jim Wells need to reverse this decision immediately. And the health minister has to tackle the staggering inefficiency of Northern Ireland’s NHS management, rather than preventing professional medical staff from caring for vulnerable citizens.”