Browse content similar to 17/06/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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A health service under pressure - we ask the Minister at Edwin Poots | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
Howard can recover. And will they or won't they? We | :01:49. | :01:59. | |
:01:59. | :01:59. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1613 seconds | :01:59. | :28:52. | |
lookout the significance of the Hello, and welcome to the Sunday | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
politics in Northern Ireland. It has been a difficulty here for the | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
health minister. The deaths of four premature babies -- babies from | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
pseudomonas, the crisis in Accident and Emergency, and the controversy | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
over blood donation. Lifting the ban on gay people seems as far away | :29:09. | :29:16. | |
as ever. The important right are the right | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
of the person receiving the blood to have confidence the blood will | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
not infect them with something else. A, the history of a handshake - as | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
Martin McGuinness ponders, we look back as how -- at how history has | :29:30. | :29:37. | |
been shaped by the joining of hands. And my studio guests, Sue Ramsey, | :29:37. | :29:45. | |
chair of their health committee, and an County Omagh GP. | :29:45. | :29:51. | |
He was described as brave for closing the city's Hospital ent E. | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
But when things are drunk Edwin Poots was the man in the firing | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
line. I spoke to the health minister on Friday and began by | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
asking him how he reflects on the past 12 months. It has been an | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
interesting time in my life. I regard it as a fantastic | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
opportunity. I feel very privileged to do this job, and as their look | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
back it has been idea of height and lows. This pseudomonas outbreak, | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
for example, that was probably the lowest point. We had the challenge | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
is about accident at a bridge at the department's, those were | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
difficult things. -- we had challenges about Accident and | :30:31. | :30:41. | |
:30:41. | :30:42. | ||
Emergency departments. We recently got the state electronic care | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
record, which will enable consultants to work more closely | :30:45. | :30:51. | |
with GPs and have a more fluid cyst -- system within the health service. | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
We will be opening the new hospital in the south-west this week. Those | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
are really exciting and good things and it is great to be involved in | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
those. When it comes to Accident and Emergency, there is a sense | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
among health professionals you are backtracking on a commitment to the | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
A&E hospital. Have you had your fingers burned over what happened | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
with the City Hospital? I never made any -- any commitment | :31:17. | :31:26. | |
to close Causeway Accident and Emergency. The Compton review | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
suggested at least have, and that is on the list of potential | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
closures. The Compton review recommended we would have five or | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
seven hospitals, and people made an assumption that hospital may close | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
as a result of that. I think it is important to maintain public | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
confidence. Is the public confidence at the moment? There | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
have been suggestions it is not safe, at the close Causeway | :31:51. | :31:55. | |
Hospital, and those arguments were used about the city hospital when | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
it closed. The hospitals are incompatible. City Hospital is one | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
mile from the Royal. Because we is thought to miles from antrum and 30 | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
miles from another hospital. There was quite a challenge in getting | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
people in emergency situations to that alternative force will have -- | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
to alternative facilities. The challenge we have with the causeway | :32:18. | :32:24. | |
is that it retains the skill base and the amount of work that is | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
required. I am putting it back to the people who manage that hospital, | :32:28. | :32:34. | |
the clinicians within the hospital, and I have no desire to take | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
services away from that facility. They need to demonstrate to me they | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
can perform those services in a safe and sustainable and resilient | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
away, and that is what needs to be done. There are some decisions | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
coming up that you have to make. When will you decide on allowing | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
gay people to donate blood or not? Interestingly enough, I have | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
received two back pieces of correspondence this week. One was | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
from my southern counterpart, James Riley, who is indicating they do | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
not intend to change their position, which is a permanent deferral, and | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
it is not just about HIV but other blood borne viruses. There was a | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
second piece of work done recently by the European Council. It | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
indicated the majority of states in Europe, which goes beyond the | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
European Union, all 54 states would be opposed to moving away from a | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
permanent deferral. I think the people who engage in higher risk | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
sexual behaviour in general should be excluded from giving blood. If | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
someone has sex with someone enough to cut or has sex with prostitutes, | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
I am very reluctant about those people being able to give blood. I | :33:46. | :33:52. | |
am certainly range it -- raising a whole range of areas. One of the | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
things that is important is that we retain confidence in the system. | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
This system has worked for many years, so to work away from | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
something that is actually working, the old saying, if it isn't broke, | :34:03. | :34:08. | |
don't fix it. But if people feel they are being discriminated | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
against? The rights that are important are | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
the rights of the person receiving the blood to have confidence that | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
blood is not something that is going to infect them with something | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
else. Is the blood not screened before it is passed on any way? | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
The tears. There is some blood that comes in and has turned round very | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
quickly, and there can be problems arising as a result of that. | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
will you stop donations from England, Scotland and Wales? They | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
do not have his ban. The first element of the screening | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
is to remove people who engage in risky behaviour. The second element | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
is the scientific element, and that will look at the blood itself. What | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
we have actually works by removing people we engage in what is | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
perceived as being risky behaviour and it actually works very well in | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
the second element of the screening. By will receive blood from other | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
areas whenever I mediate, the Republic of Ireland or other parts | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
of the UK. -- whenever I needed. Aga officials advising this is a | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
good idea, or is this how you feel about it? | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
I have taken advice from a range of people. I have conflicting advice | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
on it, which is part of the problem. Some people would say, we think we | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
could go ahead with it, and others are saying we would prefer not to | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
do that. That can be quite significant. How can you justify it | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
went the minions of people who live in the rest of the UK are, in your | :35:41. | :35:49. | |
opinion, were exposed to risk? It is not particularly difficult to | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
justify whenever North America doesn't do it. The vast majority of | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
Europe has said that they have no intention whatsoever of changing it. | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
There are only a few countries in the world who have taken a similar | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
line to the UK. When it comes to the future of the | :36:04. | :36:12. | |
Health Ministry, the hunt is likely to be run again in the autumn | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
because of the dissolution of the Department of Employment and | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
learning. Will the DUP take on the health portfolio again? | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
I would imagine so, unless someone else tries to take it before us. We | :36:23. | :36:29. | |
have enjoyed -- we have a job to do. It is a big job. It is the largest | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
department in Government. It has taken some time to turn it around | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
and get it pointed in the right direction. | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
So Sue Ramsey, you are chair of the health committee and it is your job | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
to scrutinise his did -- his decisions. What is your view on | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
blood decisions? My view is that he is bringing his | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
own prejudices into play here. Edwin Poots, when it suits him, | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
says that he takes his line from the British Government. You | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
actually highlighted the fact that this ban does not exist in England, | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
Scotland and Wales. He also highlighted that we have a robust | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
screening programme. We are crying out for blood, it is an issue of | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
equality and we have a screening programme to ensure every drop of | :37:11. | :37:17. | |
blood is safe for people. He denies it is his own personal opinion, he | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
admits there is conflicting advice, but as a committee can you change | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
his mind? We will, we can ask for the reports | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
he is referring to. He talks about parity, but he is breaking his | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
parity with England, Scotland and Wales. It is a matter of equality. | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
The issue is that blood is screened. We have a robust screening | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
programme and we are crying out for blood donation. We have had to | :37:44. | :37:50. | |
bring in blood from the UK because we need it. Anyone that is giving | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
blood will be screened, so we did not go down this line of his own | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
prejudice coming into play. let's look at some of the wider | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
health issues. You come from our area which has | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
lost its ENT services. That is having a knock-on effect in other | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
parts of Northern Ireland. -- lost its Accident and Emergency services. | :38:09. | :38:19. | |
:38:19. | :38:22. | ||
We fought very hard in County -- format to save our services. We | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
did highlight that it would put pressures on all the Govan hospital | :38:26. | :38:34. | |
and the Ayr hospital. -- the earn hospital. That it -- the low point | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
for me was the death of the gentleman in the Royal Hospital. It | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
highlights that being E services are overstretched, and my own | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
patient to complain when they attend the hospitals that they have | :38:46. | :38:53. | |
very excessive times to wake. -- my own patient do complain. If a GP | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
refers for assessment, many patients are asked to attend | :38:57. | :39:07. | |
:39:07. | :39:08. | ||
Accident and Emergency. The Erne Hospital Has an assessment unit | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
where patients can be assessed and that is a better system. There is | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
another side to it, isn't there? There are people in Accident and | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
Emergency he should not be there. But is there then that not pressure | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
on people like yourself to provide a service to stop people going to | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
accident adamant that the in the first place? | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
That is right, this is why there is call location between the accident | :39:32. | :39:38. | |
and unedited apartment and the GP out-of-hours service. -- Accident | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
and Emergency department. GPs are happy to treat General Medical | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
cases to allow Accident and Emergency to be freed up for | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
genuine emergencies. That is appropriate. It will give the | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
patients a better service with shorter waiting times. We also -- | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
often hear that politics overrides the health service because people | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
are looking over their shoulders for votes. Do you think that has | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
come to an end? I am there to ensure my | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
constituents get the best service they are entitled to. I am not | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
coming up this from a political point of view. It is about ensuring | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
that health is three at the point of delivery, there is a quality | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
around the health services, and there is an issue with making a | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
decision to close one hospital, the impact it has on other hospitals. | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
For a long time we were not looking beyond the boundaries of health | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
trusts. We need to look at the impact of a decision in one area | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
and how that can have an impact on another of area. | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
The you think it was wrong to close the city hospital? | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
We are still told that is only a temporary decision, so I think they | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
need to be honest with people. We have seen that the problems the | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
Royal Hospital has been under. That is the system within hospital | :41:00. | :41:09. | |
services. In politics, a handshake can help | :41:09. | :41:15. | |
seal the deal or change the mood. But the timing has to be right. We | :41:15. | :41:25. | |
:41:25. | :41:30. | ||
have a report on the importance of Handshakes have provided some of | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
the most seminal moments in political history, and not just in | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
Ireland. Some gestures appear highly significant at the time and | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
lead nowhere. I suppose the most famous example would be the | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
handshake on the lawn of the White House between Yitzhak Rabin and | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
Yasser Arafat. The peace process then went into the sand. That did | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
not have a long lasting impact. There are other cases, I suppose. | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
The most iconic one would be Nelson Mandela putting on that the | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
Springbok jersey at the final of the World Cup in 1995. | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
The sculpture, entitled reconciliation cannot was inspired | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
by the end of the Second World War. It was unveiled at Stormont 12 | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
years ago by David Trimble, one of several symbolic axe at a difficult | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
time in the peace process. Some gestures undoubtedly help to | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
underpin the political process, but not everyone is impressed. These | :42:34. | :42:40. | |
things are hyped for the optics, and sometimes for the gullible, to | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
try and pretend there is more significant than what lies behind. | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
I think that is not the real historical significance of any of | :42:47. | :42:54. | |
that in a handshake, handshakes and back-slapping. We have seen that, | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
Ian Paisley back-slapping Bertie Ahern, all of that. | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
Traditionally, handshakes have been seminal. They are important, they | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
show leadership and demonstrate growth in political maturity. But | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
that kind of growth only comes with integrity, and I think the general | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
public absolutely understand whether a gesture has integrity or | :43:13. | :43:18. | |
not. The Queen's visit to the book last | :43:18. | :43:23. | |
year and were gestures of reconciliation and respect mark a | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
new age in Anglo-Irish relations. The visit was highly significant in | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
terms of being the cherry on top of the final culmination of a process, | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
it really kind of sealed the deal in saying that Britain and Ireland | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
had a very different relationship. Here is a handshake that means a | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
lot in Ballymena. The council has elected its first ever nationalist | :43:45. | :43:52. | |
Mayor. Whatever the issue on the Sinn Fein's internal debate, most | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
people believe Martin McGuinness should meet the Queen and so rather | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
than later. The Queen went to the south of Ireland and was made very | :44:00. | :44:07. | |
welcome, so why don't see why she should not be made welcome up here. | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
They're supposed to be working together now, you know, and it is | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
about time that Martin McGuinness met the Queen. I think it might be | :44:17. | :44:25. | |
too early. For him or for her? For Martin. You think now is not | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
the right time? Not right away. would just make people want to live | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
together and agree more. You think it is that important if he was to | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
make such a gesture? I think it would help. Copies of this | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
sculpture have been installed in other countries where there has | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
been division and conflict. Sinn Fein's Division once again will | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
draw international attention to Northern Ireland and how our | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
politicians deal with reconciliation. | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
Sue Ramsey, obviously you party colleague highlighted on this | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
programme last week that the continuing problems around this | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
issue. When you think a final decision will be made by Martin | :45:02. | :45:10. | |
McGuinness? It will be made by a our national Executive, so I don't | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
want to pre-empt or speculate on what they will want to say. On the | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
issue of handshakes, it was interesting to hear Jim Allister. I | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
would be happy the day Jim Allister said good morning to me. There is a | :45:20. | :45:28. | |
lot of work still to be done their. One day, me and Jim will actually | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
have a cup of tea. Your party leader obviously shook hands with | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
many different people back in the 1990s and in the early decade | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
following, do you see this as the final piece of the jigsaw? | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
I think so. I think Her Majesty the Queen blazed a trail in Anglo-Irish | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
relations and demonstrated the need for reconciliation and the need to | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
go forward positively. I think all of us being able to shake hands is | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
the next step on that journey. He writes, fagging and the National | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
Trust branded a disgrace. All end up weeks' work as Stephen Walker | :46:08. | :46:18. | |
:46:18. | :46:23. | ||
looks back in 60 seconds. Gay right Gay rights caused trouble with the | :46:23. | :46:29. | |
Unionists. By day I grew up believing that same-sex marriage | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
and Sensex relationships was not right. | :46:34. | :46:41. | |
At Stormont, others had difficulty keeping quiet. | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
Pilot wanted to shut down one of Belfast's imports. Conservationists | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
took a swing at plan for a Gulf course, leaving some supporters | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
teed off. -- a Gulf course. The National | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
Trust should change their name to a national disgrace. | :46:58. | :47:04. | |
Arlene Foster told the Co-op to but out of the flagging debate. | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
At one MLA fluffed her lines. We will see if they're getting rid | :47:09. | :47:19. | |
:47:19. | :47:20. | ||
It is a big week in Enniskillen, obviously it will have an impact | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
for people from our own, as well. Do you welcome the new St Helens | :47:24. | :47:32. | |
and Whiston are I absolutely do. We need high-quality clinical | :47:32. | :47:42. | |
:47:42. | :47:43. | ||
services. I have no doubt the people of all map will support this | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
fabulous new hospital. It represents state of-the-art | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
technology and I hope we will recruit top nursing and consultancy | :47:50. | :47:57. | |
staff. Is it an example of how we can make mature decisions, and on | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
this occasion people and County our own missed out in favour of the | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
people of County Fermanagh. We think this is a signal to the rest | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
of Northern Ireland of how things will be in the future? | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
I don't think the people will adopt a dog in the manger approach, if we | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
don't get acute services we will not support Enniskillen. I don't | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
think that will happen. We're riddled to get our own new local | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
enhanced hospital by 2015. That will provide a lot of local | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
services for the people and I think that many valuable services will be | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
delivered locally, as it should be. It is difficult though. On the | :48:34. | :48:39. |