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Monthly Archives: June 2017
Beggs Welcomes Audit of reusable rehabilitation aids
Roy Beggs, Ulster Unionist Party MLA for East Antrim has welcomed confirmation from the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) that concerns about the low return rate of return and reuse of Hospital rehabilitation aids will be examined as part of their upcoming audit of the Department of Health. Roy Beggs said “I contacted NIAO following concerns expressed made to me by a constituent regarding the apparent lack of re-use of Hospital issued crutches, walking sticks, Zimmer frames and other such equipment which many patients may only need temporarily. I share my constituents concern that many of these aids could easily be reused, saving precious NHS funding. A recent reply from the NIAO advised, “Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We will ensure that the issue is examined as part of our upcoming audit of the Department of Health and will get back to you with our findings.” … Continue reading
Cut to nursing courses a backwards and short-sighted move – Beggs
East Antrim MLA and Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson, Roy Beggs has criticised as short sighted and backward, the decision of the Department of Health to slash the funding for specialist nurse training at the Ulster University. Roy Beggs said: “It is madness to slash the training of specialist nurses at a time when the Northern Ireland Health Service has been increasing the workload on specialist nurses. Specialist nurses were to be empowered to do more through Transforming Your Care, enabling earlier intervention and so reducing the burden on GP’s and Hospital consultants. There are also already shortages in some specialist areas such as palliative care and advanced life support. “But what makes this unacceptable cut even more short sighted is the demographic time bomb that exists, with over 40% of Health Visitors and District Nurses being over the age of 50. “This cut in funding will immediately lead to a … Continue reading
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Barely half of ambulances in most urgent cases arriving within 8 minutes – Beggs
Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson, Roy Beggs MLA, has warned that the latest publication of emergency treatment times demonstrates that the lives are being put at risk. In 2016/17 there was a further slump in the number of emergency ambulances arriving within the target time of 8 minutes. Roy Beggs said: “The importance of ambulances and paramedics arriving on time cannot be emphasised enough. The longer someone has to wait for assistance in an emergency the greater the risk there is of them coming to serious and lasting harm. “In the Northern area there where 109,329 NI Ambulance Service patient journeys in 2016/17, with over a third (35.6%) of these classed as emergencies.” “The target for Category A ambulance calls – which are considered to be the most urgent and life threatening – is that 72.5% should attended within 8 minutes. It is frightening that the Department of Health has now … Continue reading
Constituency Profile: Sammy Wilson tops the poll in East Antrim
IT’S business as usual in East Antrim as incumbent Sammy Wilson laid claim to his seat once again, but the DUP veteran raised eyebrows with a significant increase in his vote. In a night that saw the wind taken out of Ulster Unionist sails with a Westminster wipeout, hopes that assembly election success in East Antrim for Robin Swann’s party could translate to a real threat to Mr Wilson’s parliament position were shot down as the DUP MP saw a 21.2 percent boost from his 2015 finishing position. That had Mr Wilson beaming, as it reversed his previous Westminster vote drop of 9.7 percent at the last poll – and then some. “Unionism awakened yesterday and made its voice clear,” he crowed on Friday morning as he looked down the barrel of real power in London thanks to Theresa May’s Conservatives coming up short. John Stewart, who along with his … Continue reading
East Antrim: Colossal surge to the DUP – Belfast Newsletter
The DUP’s share of the vote in East Antrim has increased by a remarkable margin. Sammy Wilson won the strongly-unionist seat with 57.3% of the vote – an increase of more than half compared with his 2015 results. Sammy Wilson In 2015, he had got 36.1% of the vote. Meanwhile, the Alliance Party leaped forward into second place in the constituency, winning 16% of the vote and displacing the UUP, which polled only 9.3%. Turnout jumped from 53.6% in 2015 to 60.8% this time. Speaking before official results were in, DUP Mr Wilson put the huge surge in votes down in part to that fact that UKIP and the TUV were not standing this time around. John Stewart In the last general election, those two smaller parties together took more than 15% of the vote. Mr Wilson also said that “people did respond to the call I made in my … Continue reading
