27/11/2011 The Politics Show Northern Ireland

Here: The first big public service strike since the 70s. And what went

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2013 seconds

on have the biggest parties annual Hello and welcome to the Politics

Hello and welcome to the Politics Hello and welcome to the Politics

Show in Northern Ireland. Change is imminent, and many won't like it.

The words of the health minister. Edwin Poots isn't the first to

attempt to restructure the health service. This week he'll take

receipt of a major review that'll then go out for public consultation.

In a moment we'll hear from the chair of the health committee but

first here's a snapshot of some of the health stories that have been

making the headlines. Another political hot potato... Anger

turned to joy today for this radiotherapy unit. The most

powerful advocates of are the nurses. The date for the closure

for the accident and emergency department of Belfast City Hospital

was confirmed today. By this time to marry evening, when the Royal

Victoria Hospital becomes the main hub, this area will be available to

treat the extra patients. We will have more experienced staff,

working longer hours. We will engage in discussions to find a

better way forward. The severe criticism comes from the General

Council, whose inspectors arranged a visit at short notice. Unless

resources are put in now, for integration by people affected by

wealth -- grade related problems, the health service were not be able

to afford to treat these patients effectively. This isn't about money,

people immediately think about cuts. It is about what the health service

is about. We need a public debate about what we need in our health

services. So, if it's not just about money or cuts, what should we

expect from the review? Michelle Gildernew is chair of the

assembly's health committee. Have you accepted the possibility of

hospitals closing? We accept that things should be done better. The

report was back in 2000. I don't know if we can go and much lower

than the number of hospitals we have, but wherever there is going

to be rationalisation, the fact that you have four major hospitals

within a few miles of each other in Belfast is where the

rationalisation would need to look. We also need to look at how we do

things better. I believe that there are people within the health

services, nurses, doctors, who are our trying to do something

different, more community-based health care. And with more of a

prevention on keeping you well. People will admit that they drive

past their local hospital to get to Belfast, where they will get the

best care. The air have been teething problems, especially when

rationalisation happened without the right amount of planning.

However, if you look at what has happened, they don't think anybody

will want to drive past bat hospital and go to another facility.

Not every hospital will do everything, so there will be

specialities. If you have had a strike -- a stroke, it might make

sense to go to a facility in your nearest one. It is those kind of

things will have to look at to make sure you get the best outcomes. We

want to see more people who do suffer a life threatening losses

that get the best treatment. -- life-threatening illnesses. We need

to make sure people in rural communities are not left behind.

Some people fear that people won't go far enough because the

politicians will be looking over their shoulders. We have already

seen this happening. Do politicians have responsibility to convince

people of the merits of closing hospital to save money, in the same

way that your Minister is going to have to close schools? If schools

are closing, it is probably because they are underperforming and their

children are not getting the best chance that they deserve. I know we

are very anxious to ensure that every child get the best chance to

achieve academically but they are able to. Some of our schools are

failing our children and some of our -- but how hospitals are not.

If we need to reduce the number of hospitals by one or two, then we

have to look at the situation in Belfast. We also have to insure

that if they are putting more services to primary care, for

example, if we are asking GPs to do more, the budget needs to follow

that. We cannot expect people to take on more responsibility and for

the money to be in some black hole between acute and primary care.

the GPS got a very generous renegotiation of the contract some

years ago, and people are now saying, why should we expect to see

your GP between the hours of nine- to-five, that we should have a 24

are severs. Should the onus now not be on GPs to step up to the mark

and take on more of the responsibility of looking after

people to prevent them going into hospital? I personally think GPs do

a very good service. If we look at the situation as it is, the GP

contract that you talk about was seven years ago. But has not been

as generous now. I have been three cuts over that seven-year period --

that has not been as generous. We have 1,400 T Peter Kay, the same

amount as 10 years ago. The number of consultants has or what --

almost doubled, so we need to look at the support. A lot to GPs chose

not to do it because they were contracted to work nights. Some

people want to be able to opt out of that, and we have a lot of women

who work as GPs and in have to manage that with family

responsibilities. We do need to see achieve -- a situation where GPs

are willing to work shifts in the evening or on the weekend. And yes,

more people go to GPs and get the right level of care, so if they

need a particular service, that could be provided at a GP's surgery.

At the minute, a lot of things that GPs could do, they have to refer,

because they don't have the facilities to do it. So all we are

looking at bold measures. It won't be a one size fits all solution. We

will need to see a solution adopted, one for towns and cities and a

different solution for rural areas to ensure that people have access

to the best quality health care that they can get. Recent figures

have shown that we have the highest GP usage of anywhere else in the UK.

There is an issue with the public health service about people going

to end the when they don't need to. What do you think? How much should

we be spending on prevention rather than cure and getting people to

lose weight, stop smoking? believe those messages are the

right ones to send out. Really spend quarter of a million a deer

on supporting mothers to breast- feed, something that has proven to

prevent child had -- childhood obesity. All these things need to

be done holistically. We also need to spend money on preventative

strategies, insuring people have the medication they need to avoid

an outcome further down the line, more expensive and more invasive.

And a situation where you might not get better to the extent where you

should, so the investment in the kind of drugs that we need to keep

people are out of hospital as well. We also have to look at the

situation of people suffering from dementia. That number is going to

go up to 60,000, so we need to read a clue look at how we deliver

health care and ensure that we are planning for the future. Planning

for it obesity, for example, without putting the measures then

on prevention is foolish. We need to spend money on prevention to

keep well aware and get the right messages across. Diet, exercise,

alcohol consumption can will lead to very nasty conditions later on

in life, not just cardiac, but things that have a big public loss

in terms of social care as well. We need a joined-up strategy that

looks at all of these things. you very much for joining us.

Yesterday saw the last of the big party conferences of 2011. The DUP

met in Belfast for their annual gathering. In a moment we'll have

some of the flavour of the conference. First, though, here's a

flavour of the party leader's speech. We have set ourselves a

challenging target a moderate advance education. We will increase

the number of university places but economically relevant subject. And

we will introduce proper sentences for those who are charged and found

guilty of attacks on older people. As far as we're concerned, if you

attack a pensioner, pack your bags, you're going to jail. We must work

towards a more normalised form of government, with an executive and a

local and honest opposition. Not for a column that operates from

within the ranks of the executive in a cell. That would be a real

sign of political maturity. I don't want a society where people live

close together but live separate lives. The conflict of this last 40

years created terrible divisions. It became a case of them and asked.

And that attitude deepened divisions even further. If we want

a better society, it can't be them and asked, it can only be all of

last -- at them and us. When have we as Unionists actually sought to

persuade? Not just bywords but by creating the kind of inviting

society which everyone will want to be part of? Our determination and

resolve saw us through the Troubles. Its Taurus through very well what

we will were being mercilessly attacked. Happily, times have

changed. And now, a new approach. Peter Robinson. Listening closely

at the conference were the lobby groups hoping to influence

Executive policy. Yvette Shapiro reports on how power makes you

The the pique is basking in the glow of real power. It is the

biggest party in the family, and its ministerial team is in charge

of key departments at Stormont. Nelson, Edwin, well done all of you.

This concentration of power is not lost on the lobbyists. They can't

afford to miss an opportunity to bend a minister's ear. More than 70

organisations are represented today, each paying between 400 and �600 to

take an exhibition stand. Most of them say it is worth it because it

gives them face-to-face access with ministers who were usually

surrounded by advisers and civil servants. It is essential that we

are seen to be there and that we build relationships with ministers,

amylase, with people coming through the system -- MLAs. On the one hand,

they like to be pro-business, and some of them assume that that means

you have to be anti- environment. We need to break that idea that

being pro development means you are anti- environment. The the P the

takes strong issues -- the DUP do have strong ideas about this.

Consumer Council is frequently at odds with the executive over their

policies on this subject. One of the issues that we hear time and

time again is that so many citizens are suffering and there is a real

lack of money going around. ministers are centre-stage, but

other powerful and younger figures are rising through the park --

party ranks. These two men were elected to the Assembly for the

first time in May, and were immediately given committee

chairmanships. It is great to have young MLAs to take the roles. We

will do it to the best of our abilities. It is great to see that

the party can be said progressive. I have always been a member of this

party. My grandfather was a founding member of the party so I

am her bed -- I am a third- generation member. This woman is no

stranger to political conferences, but this is her first the P event.

She has just defected to the party. -- the P. He wants all the people

in Northern Ireland to come together, to work together, for

Catholics to vote for the DP. I do have Catholic friends who were

Unionists, I don't know if they will vote for the the DUP. Some are

undoubtedly singing from the same song sheet as Peter Robinson. But

it is what the party does, and not what its leader says that will

count with the electorate. Wednesday, thousands of public

sector workers are expected to strike. It will affect schools,

transport and even Stormont where debates have been raging over

whether to cross the picket line. I'm joined by Raymond McFeeters,

President of the National Association of Head Teachers and

chair of the CBI, Terence Brannigan. Raymond, you're taking action for

the first time in the Union's 114 year history. Why has this is so

important? We see that the cuts that the making at the moment as a

real attack on our profession, and on our peoples. All we are

interested in is protecting quality education for all of our young

people in Northern Ireland. As you said, it is 114 years without

taking any industrial action, for our members have voted very clearly

as to how important they feel this issue is at this time. Most of the

other unions are striking on the pensions, and you're not going to

get much sympathy from the people that parents represents. I would

say that the pensions issue it is a complicated one. The government

reassessed our pensions issue in 2007 and were happy with that. They

have now tried to make huge changes to it after that, so this is an

unfair pay cut because they're coming back and trying to take more

money from the public sector pension scheme, which we feel is

viable. We have asked the government to Bally that pension

scheme and they have refused. buried divide going on here? You do

get the feeling that the private and public sectors are very much

been pitted against one another with the pensions issue in

particular? I'm not sure that is true. We may have different views.

My view is that the situation where the public sector in Northern

Ireland on average and 28 % more than in the private sector, and in

the regard to pensions, 91 % of private sector organisations

actually had to leave those behind because they were unsustainable. We

have got a situation now where there is the gap between the amount

that is paid into the pension scheme. It is 10 billion a year. It

is unsustainable at the current level. Within the public sector

pension scheme, my understanding is that they pay one-and-a-half %,

whereas the employer pays 19 %. The employer has in fact the public.

But at the same time the banks were bailed out and nobody was jumping

up about that and the private sector. Absolutely, and no one

could argue that banks did not create or help to create the

current situation that we find ourselves in. Also, per would point

out that the banks were the only people. They were under a Labour

government backed by the unions, and bail-out these things to happen.

It is not just the banks, although they have a major part to play, but

it is in fact Labour politicians who created this situation backed

by our unions. So now we have a situation where they are crying,

and I would rather see a situation where we work together to resolve

this. Whether it is unions, the private sector, government,

employers, a voluntary sector, the think this dividing conquer it is

not helpful for any of us. It is certainly not helpful for the most

vulnerable in our society. We have to create the future for our school

children and protect those who are most vulnerable. The only way will

do that is to work together. We do need to stand on the sidelines --

we don't need to stand on the sidelines and throw punches. We

could work together to protect our young people in the future. Raymond,

striking isn't really the right way to go about it. We deeply regret

school closures, will bring never want us -- we never want to close

schools. I think what I would say to parents who are going to be

inconvenienced by this, of his sleek industrial action is designed

to be disruptive -- obviously industrial action. I would say that

they should look towards the long- term gains. The majority of those

people who will be involved and inconvenience will have children of

school age. If you were to ask them what was really important to them,

they with they are a quality education for their young people

and life opportunities following from that. The skills and

qualifications that we need in the business world. Most people would

agree, but at the same time, there is this issue that in the past may

take a job in the public sector and to accept that you're slightly less

well paid, but now you're not less well paid than the private sector.

28 % more. It is difficult to justify why it all tax payers

should then pay your pensions. we look at the people that I

represent, the principles and vice principles in schools, if you were

to compare what they do and the complex organisations that they run

with no finance department, dealing with the academic needs of young

people and their social and emotional needs which are becoming

increasingly complex come with a run very complex organisations. If

they were managing directors in similar Forest organisations in the

private sector compared there would be paid considerably more. What

impact you can the strike will have on Wednesday? Incredibly disruptive.

We have got a situation where parents with children will have to

take care of them and have to take a day off work. They will lose work,

pay, productivity, it will have an impact of hundreds of millions of

pounds on our economy at a time when we can least afford it. It

will be disruptive in terms of not just parents with children, but

because of transport. We're talking about old people being

inconvenienced, people who was sick, who cannot be treated, people who

have already had operations that had been put off. But what other

options to people have a worker and the public sector? -- what other

options do people have who work in the public sector? We have a

situation where there is an ongoing negotiation, before it conclusion.

I find that quite strange and absolutely unreasonable. It seems

to me to be bully boy tactics. It seems that we are going to impose

ourselves in order to get bought we want, and indeed, in a situation

where there Roy unions. I'm talking about major public sector unions

have got less than the 22 % Monday. For a 78 % of the people did not

vote for the strike. Raymond, what with the mandate in your

organisation? Are they bully boy tactics? Not at all. We have a 51 %

return. That is a very strong statement and a very strong mandate

to take the action. What I would say is that nobody is ignorant of

the fact that we are in very difficult times. Everybody accepts

that. We were talking before the show started, I have a lot of

family and friends to a private sector and have seen the pain of

the cuts that are going on, but in this extremely difficult times,

what government and society have to do is to look at what is really

important and look at what needs to be protected. We feel the

government is not protecting the education system for young people.

And young people that we are educating her the young people they

will bring his country out of recession. Thank you very much

indeed. We will be talking about the pros and cons of this week's