Leading medics back Robin Swann amid threats as top doctor warns abuse could ‘tip over into something more sinister’

Mr Swann’s party leader, UUP boss Doug Beattie, revealed on Thursday that Mr Swann had been forced to review his security arrangements following further threats.

Leading GP Dr Alan Stout,a senior figure in the British Medical Associtation (BMA) in Northern Ireland, is amongst a host of prominent medical figures to have backed the Minister following the threats.

He also warned that the security situation facing Mr Swann, alongside a recent protest targeting pregnant women at a vaccination clinic, shows how abuse can spill over into something “more sinister”.

Speaking to the News Letter, Dr Stout said: “He [Robin Swann] has been in an exceptionally difficult position and has done a quite remarkable job.

“He deserves all of our respect and all of our support for what he has done.

“He has been very open, as we have been very open, about what we have faced [during the pandemic] and no one is going to get everything right. But that’s not what we judge people on. We judge people on their commitment, their openness, their honesty and their ability to get things done. He has excelled in that and we all owe him a huge debt of thanks. He certainly does not deserve anything that looks like a threat.”

On the wider issue of abuse during the pandemic, Dr Stout said: “Anyone who has any kind of prominence, who is saying anything in a public domain, is going to be subjected to that.

As part of our role, we [the BMA] kind of know that and accept that.

“The more worrying thing for me is that we are now seeing it disseminated to healthcare staff, to practices, to Emergency Departments, and anybody really on the absolute front line. That’s the most worrying thing because that’s just not acceptable in any make, shape or form. I mean these are people going above and beyond, doing their absolute best in such difficult circumstances, under all of the stress and strain that the rest of the community is in outside of work as well.

He added: “Now, fortunately, it is a tiny minority of people who are doing this. Most people are fully appreciative of what everyone is trying to do.”

On the potential for the escalation ofabuse, Dr Stout said: “There’s always going to be that risk, and what has happened to the Minister just highlights that. For someone to organise a protest outside an antenatal clinic, for example, it doesn’t take an awful lot for that to tip over into something more sinister.”

The Northern Ireland head of the Royal College of Surgeons, meanwhile, has said he was “absolutely sickened to the core” to learn of threats made against Robin Swann.

Mark Taylor, writing on social media website Twitter, added: “What sort of people believe this is justified? This man has worked day and night to try and navigate us through the most difficult of times. He has never brought politics into his decisions and deserves our heartfelt thanks.”