Tag Archives: DHSSPS

Latest Residential Care Homes Statement is Creating More Anxiety: Beggs

Ulster Unionist Party MLA Roy Beggs Jnr has said that the announcement of a new round of consultations in the autumn on the future of NHS Residential Care Homes in Northern Ireland has created yet more confusion and anxiety for residents and their relatives. Mr Beggs, who has been working with friends and relatives of residents in East Antrim’s 3 NHS Trust Residential Home for the past year, said: “In May, Health Minister Edwin Poots announced that the consultation process on Residential Care Home closure- just launched by the individual Health Trusts- had been stopped. The official spin was that Mr Poots had stepped in and saved the Homes. That in reality was never the case. There was no change whatsoever on his policy of closing, or running down all NHS Residential Care Home across Northern Ireland. It is now clear that it was only a temporary pause to take … Continue reading

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Beggs questions planning behind staffing levels at new Antrim Area A&E Department

Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson Roy Beggs MLA has questioned the planning behind the staffing levels at the new Accident and Emergency Department at Antrim Area Hospital which officially opens today (Wednesday 26 June 13). Roy Beggs MLA commented; “The problems at Antrim Area Hospital’s A&E Department have been well rehearsed over the past two years and I have previously highlighted the fact that the NHS waiting target of 95% of patients being seen within 4 hours has been routinely missed by large margins. The opening of the expanded Accident and Emergency Unit at Antrim should be a cause of optimism. However the good news has again been clouded with confusion about the planned staffing levels. We have been informed by a Trust official via the media that 20 new nurses have been recruited to work in the new unit. Yet recently my colleague Robin Swann, North Antrim UUP MLA put … Continue reading

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No Reassurance from Health Minister on A&E Waiting Times

East Antrim UUP MLA Roy Beggs has again raised the issue of waiting times at Casualty Units in Northern Ireland, in particular at Antrim Area Hospital. Questioning the Minister at Stormont, Mr Beggs said: During March and April, the main accident and emergency units in Northern Ireland saw the lowest proportion of patients treated within four hours ever recorded.  The figures show that one third of patients at Antrim Area Hospital are not seen within four hours and that, at the Causeway Hospital, it is about 30% of patients.  How can the Minister be confident that we are seeing something more significant than the normal seasonal adjustment as we approach the summer months?  How can he be sure that we are seeing significant improvement and changes and are starting to reach the 95% target that exists everywhere in the United Kingdom?” Replying, Health Minister Poots could give no assurances that … Continue reading

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Need to Raise Awareness of Endometriosis

Roy has spoken in an Assembly debate on Endometriosis, a common condition in which small pieces of the womb lining (the endometrium) are found outside the womb. “That this Assembly calls on the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to initiate and expedite an inquiry into the urgent need for an integrated endometriosis service to address the severe suffering experienced by women with this condition across Northern Ireland.”  Mr Beggs: I, too, support the motion. Endometriosis affects thousands of women in Northern Ireland and hundreds of thousands of women in the United Kingdom. In a recent Assembly answer to a question from the Chair of the Committee, the Health Minister indicated that some 1,155 hospital admissions in Northern Ireland in 2011-12 were as a result of diagnosis of endometriosis. The lack of awareness of the condition is of particular concern, and that is why I welcome this debate. … Continue reading

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Where are Local Plans to Replace Care Homes? asks Beggs

Speaking in a debate at Stormont about care for the Elderly, Ulster Unionist MLA Roy Beggs Jnr has expressed his alarm at the lack of specific local plans to replace Residential Care Homes such as Lisgarel in Larne, Joymount in Carrickfergus and Clonmore in Newtownabbey- which have again been earmarked for closure by Health Minister Edwin Poots. Mr Beggs told the Assembly: “In my response to the Transforming Your Care proposals, I urged caution regarding the proposed changes to services for the elderly. I also expressed concern at the high risk of the flawed proposal to close so many homes so rapidly. I highlighted issues such as the increasing need for respite care in this new model, where domiciliary care increasingly becomes the primary source of retaining our older population in their own home. With our growing older population, I believe that there will also be a need for increased … Continue reading

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