Trade union and political parties express 'real fear' over scale of planned health service cuts

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They were speaking after Stormont’s Department of Health pledged £800 million in savings after revealing it is currently overspending by £2 million a day.

placeholder image — A major trade union and political parties across the spectrum have expressed concern that proposed cuts for the health service will impact on staff and patient safety.

The reset and recovery plan announced by the department aims to put the health service on a sounder financial footing, but will require saving 12% of the current HSC budget.

Trade union UNISON said that despite “a growing crisis” across the health service, health trusts agreed further cuts “with disregard for the impact on patients and staff”. The union said that “despite growing health inequalities and unsafe staffing levels” the trusts refused to “stand up” for the health service - but said that they will.

DUP MLAs Diane Dodds and Diane Forsythe criticised Minister Robbie Butler for sending his Permanent Secretary out to break news of the cuts. They said he entered office talking about “hope, not fear” but that “what we hear throughout the community is very real fear”.

Meanwhile, the minister’s colleague, UUP Health spokesperson Alan Chambers MLA argued that “the funding available from Westminster is simply not keeping pace with the pressures facing our public services”. Alliance’s Nuala McAllister said it is “impossible to see how savings of this magnitude can be delivered in the time available without compromising patient outcomes and putting further pressure on staff.”

And Sinn Féin’s Philip McGuigan said patients and frontline workers “must not be made to pay the price for the British government’s failure to fund public services”.