Browse content similar to 02/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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will not shy away from making decisions. They will sometimes be | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
controversial but decisions I believe will ultimately deliver a | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
better health service. That was the pledge from the Health Minister as | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
he took up post two years ago. Today he apologised for the way | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
controversial social care decisions have been handled and summoned the | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
heads of the five trusts to an emergency meeting at Stormont. We | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
ask is Edwin Poots still in control of the Department of Health? Also | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
tonight. Belfast's Lord Mayor wants to party instead of parade to mark | :00:52. | :01:00. | |
the end of his year in office. Is he right? I think anything that | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
attracts young people into the city centre is a good thing. Not to knock | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
the old, but I think it brings an influx in, not only a good thing. | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
We'll hear the thoughts of our commentators on the big stories of | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
the week. And you can, of course, follow the programme on Twitter. | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
:01:25. | :01:25. | ||
That's @BBCtheview. Edwin Poots has spent the day on a crusade of damage | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
limitation trying to quell the public outcry over proposals by | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
healthl trusts to close residential care homes. He says he's sorry for | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
any distress caused to elderly people, but blames the trusts for | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
the disastrous handling of the proposed changes. Our Political | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
Correspondent, Martina Purdy, reports on the politics of the | :01:38. | :01:48. | |
:01:48. | :01:49. | ||
healthcare row. This is one of the residential care homes facing | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
closure. It's not the first time it's made the headlines. Back in | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
2009, the trust is marketed for closure, leaving the health minister | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
facing fierce criticism. In fact, one of the Minister 's fiercest | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
critics was the day you PM LA, Edwin Poots, here he is in the assembly | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
insisting he had got it wrong. hear what the residents say, because | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
they are the people who are most important. And here he is pro | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
testing. But now he's in charge, perhaps the issue doesn't seem so | :02:28. | :02:35. | |
black-and-white. As Minister, the measure he sent out is of a new | :02:35. | :02:44. | |
approach, trans forum care is right. Proposal recommends proposing to | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
close half the residential homes here. It's what one social policy | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
expert calls apolitical awkward moment. I think the Minister was | :02:56. | :03:04. | |
guided by political thinking that there would be votes in resisting | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
the closures of these facilities. he's got logic on his side now? | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
People emphasised the realities to him. Indeed, with the elder | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
population set to rise sharply, cost is one of the factors driving the | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
Minister 's policy. But it's not the only one says a former trust | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
chairman, who last year was sacked by the minister over target | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
failings. It's expensive to keep elderly folks in residential homes, | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
and as one as Wallace, a lot of them are run down, so the alternative | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
seems to be for them to keep people in their own homes as long as | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
possible. For some people, it's a good idea. If you ask elderly people | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
what they would like in the future, it's obvious they want to stay in | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
their own home, but will it be safe for them to stay in their own home? | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
We have to look at how we provide service, not a third World approach | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
will you get 50 minutes four times a day under the minimum for people. | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
Supported housing is key to plan. This elder resident has their own | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
front door but also access to 24-hour help. The problem, claim | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
critics, is there's a shortage of these developments. Critics say | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
that's not the only problem. Now most of the are proposing to close | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
all they care homes, there will be more pressure on the private sector | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
to as sectors struggle to profit on the amount the NHS pays per | :04:39. | :04:47. | |
resident. Transforming care is right, but I don't think that means | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
every residential home should be closed. You can't put all your eggs | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
into the private sector basket. It's a risk. This academic agrees there | :04:57. | :05:06. | |
are risks. The government need to be sure that the spaces that are lost, | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
as NHS facilities closed down, are actually filled by the private | :05:10. | :05:18. | |
sector. At the moment, contractors are, at best, breaking even. They | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
are under a huge set of pressures over the past few years. But in | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
terms of the overall policy, he has this advice for the Minister. | :05:28. | :05:34. | |
would say stick with it. It's a logical policy. Don't realise | :05:34. | :05:43. | |
ambitions to provide quality care by maintaining the residential care | :05:43. | :05:53. | |
facilities operated by the NHS. Easier said than done. In a highly | :05:53. | :05:54. | |
charged environment, as elderly residents and their relatives | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
expressed their distress. That suggests to me those people have not | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
been engaged, happened been consulted properly, don't feel they | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
are being listened to and are afraid and that's unacceptable. It's not | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
acceptable to frighten older people. The amount of upset at being | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
communicated to my office is significant. There has been | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
speculation that the trust, frustrated by funding gaps, are | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
putting the pressure is back on the Minister by maximising closures. But | :06:22. | :06:30. | |
others say it's nonsense. I don't think the trusts are out to get the | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
Minister. I believe the health board is doing this with the support of | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
the Minister. Whatever the truth, others have their own theories on | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
what the Minister will do next. We're looking at U-turn. Amid the | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
turmoil, the chair of the health committee is demanding clarity from | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
the Minister. He made a statement, number of weeks ago in the | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
assembly, 50% will close within five years. He needs to challenge the | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
trust because they don't seem to be taken on board his vision. It | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
doesn't seem as the trusts are listening to what the Minister says | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
all in charge. Martina Purdy reporting. The man in the eye of the | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
storm, the Health Minister, Edwin Poots, is with me now. Thanks for | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
joining us. Let's pick up on that point at the end. Edwin Poots, who's | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
in charge of this situation, the trusts or you, the Minister? | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
trusts are the people who implement things on the ground. We set policy | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
and they carry it out. The policy that is in place here that deals | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
with all this is transforming care. We went to public consultation on | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
that and received over 90% support. What we wear proposing is to do care | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
in a different way for elderly people. We want more independence, | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
supported living, give them the support they need. And the | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
implementation of it, I have to say the trusts have carried out a way in | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
which it's been damaging to transforming care and that's why I | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
will bring them in to see me tomorrow and a deal with these | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
issues with them. But wasn't the trusts' decision to nominate these | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
homes for closure a direct response to the policy being pushed by your | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
department? It was too close residential homes. There was no | :08:15. | :08:23. | |
policy like that. You said 50% in five years. Yes, and that what | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
happened anyway. There's a turnover in our homes and that turnover takes | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
place. Naturally. Those homes would have become rundown in terms of the | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
numbers are people that were in them and we could have done this without | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
causing the pain and distress which has been caused to elderly people. | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
That is one of the things which most annoys me at this moment in time, | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
the distress caused to elderly residents. We will talk about that | :08:49. | :08:56. | |
in a moment or two. 50% you say you didn't know about the 100%, that | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
three of the trusts have announced but we have three trusts taking the | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
same decision at the same time. I'll leave you read that as coincidence? | :09:06. | :09:14. | |
Well, I can tell you what I know. Last Wednesday night, we became | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
aware the Northern Trust reporting their proposals forward the next | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
day. I wasn't aware of the Severn Trent until it was happening, and | :09:21. | :09:29. | |
the Western trust. Why not?I don't believe they are implement and | :09:29. | :09:36. | |
policy. They didn't check with your office? They notified me the night | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
before. Doesn't say much for the way they regard you that they didn't | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
bother to discuss what your reaction might be to such a deviation from | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
your policy in transforming care, not to discuss it with you. That's a | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
matter for them to answer but when I became aware of what was being | :09:51. | :09:59. | |
proposed, over the past few days, I have been horrified at how it is | :09:59. | :10:06. | |
translated. Whenever I see elderly people on TV, it's so distressing, I | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
can't be satisfied with that in fermentation. That's why I will call | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
the trusts and bring them to me and see the way they have gone about | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
this. They didn't consult to, they made the decision. What are you | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
going to do about it now? Will you tell them they can't pursue these | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
closures and you're not satisfied and you are the Minister and they | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
can stop at 50% or will you just let them go ahead? I will back them | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
close 100%. I will state that now. We will have a discussion tomorrow. | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
I've given them instructions to meet the older persons Minister as to how | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
they handle elderly people and take some advice from her about how | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
things should be done. What exactly going to happen? You will call the | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
trusts together, sit them down and say precisely what to them? It'll | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
probably be the directors of elderly care and I will say to them | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
transforming elderly care is something which received 90% of | :11:11. | :11:17. | |
public support in the consultation, overwhelming support the assembly | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
and transforming care identifies 50% plus of homes will go over three to | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
five year period. And they have overstepped the mark in looking to | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
close 100% of homes in a short period of time. That's the first | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
time they said they'd overstepped the mark. You said that now gone | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
further but you're now saying they've overstepped the mark and | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
you're going to that clear? Yes, they have damaged the transforming | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
your care in what they have done, because elderly is a key section of | :11:49. | :11:55. | |
it. We are putting a �50 million into the elderly in the last three | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
years, identified further funding increases over the next year, | :11:58. | :12:05. | |
looking at 3 million additional pounds for rehousing, which will | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
allow frail elderly people who have to go into hospital to be able to go | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
back home with support. These are key things and important things in | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
transforming care and doing what needs to be done, developing | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
multidisciplinary teams. Closing houses people are living in is a big | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
issue for them. What I find fascinating in all of this, | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
Minister, you have been forced to react to the public outcry at the | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
triple whammy of three trusts announcing 100% closures. You are | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
reacting to that, not to the policy because when the Northern trust made | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
its announcement, nearly ten days ago on Monday last week, there | :12:39. | :12:49. | |
:12:49. | :12:51. | ||
they were over stepping the mark. Was the statement on Tuesday | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
morning? They were going further than transforming your care. I was | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
interviewed after the proposals were put forward and I said I thought | :12:59. | :13:05. | |
they were going further than transform transforming care. It has | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
taken you a while to realise the scale of the public outcry? In terms | :13:11. | :13:19. | |
of how it was being handled I wasn't aware of how it was being | :13:19. | :13:27. | |
implemented. It's a damning indictment of your position, you say | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
as Minister I wasn't aware of what is happening. You are either in | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
charge or you don't know what is happening and you are not in charge. | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
You are telling our viewers tonight is that you didn't know what was | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
happening. You are the Minister you didn't know what was happening? | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
Absolutely wrong. I can't be in every residential home and every | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
hospital and every ward of every hospital overseeing. Nobody is | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
asking that. They are asking for a proper communication process with | :13:56. | :14:03. | |
the Trusts? I could not be expected to be in every home. That is... | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
not suggesting that for a second. I don't think anybody has suggested | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
that. You didn't seem to know they were about to make the announcement. | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
When they made the announcement you didn't have an idea of how it would | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
be communicated to the people affected by it. There is an argument | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
you should have known what was happening an Programme | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
Implementation Board to clarify the chain of command on the trance | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
forming your care policy was put in place. You were at the top of that | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
chain of command. You were to be reported on a weekly basis by your | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
permanent secretary. Why did that not happen? What we were told was | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
that older residents would be told of the proposals that was going to | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
the Board. How that was actually done is a different matter. That is | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
a question I will ask tomorrow. One of the things I will be raising with | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
them is how this has been handled. How people have communicated with | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
elderly people. Why elderly people have been distressed as a | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
consequence of that communication. Those things will be done, let us be | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
absolutely clear. Is it embarrassing to you that two of your fellow party | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
members in the town of Limavady, Gregory Campbell and gorge Robinson | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
have set up a petition to save Thackeray Place, one of the | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
residential homes nominated for closure by the Western Trust? | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
would it be an embarrassment when I'm supporting 50% and there is | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
proposal to close all the homes in a Trust area. Your party colleagues | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
are taking a different tact to you? Why would they take a different tact | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
to me. You going to sign the petition? I'm not suggesting that | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
100% of homes should be closed. The Trust suggested that. Why would I | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
have an issue with colleagues in any area supporting a residential home | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
in their area. That is not an issue for me at all. Do you believe you | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
have the full support of the First Minister and the Deputy First | :16:02. | :16:09. | |
Minister in the way you handled the situation? I have the full support | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
of the Assembly. We took the issue to the floor of the Assembly. We | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
identified what we wanted to do. I haven't deviated from that. If | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
others have that is a matter I have to deal with. The Trust pulled the | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
rug from under Edwin Poots? The rug will soon get under my feet if it | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
has been out fr a short time. taken you long enough? I don't | :16:30. | :16:36. | |
think. You don't think you have been slow to act to this crisis? I have | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
reacted quickly to tell people it's an unsatisfactory situation I will | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
bring people to me to explain themselves and we will deal with | :16:43. | :16:50. | |
this matter. You were quick to flex your muscle when you dismissed the | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
former Chairman of the Northern Trust, Jim Stewart last December, | :16:54. | :17:00. | |
today we have seen the Chief Executive officer of the same trust | :17:00. | :17:07. | |
Sean Donaghy being moved aside. When Jim Stewart went you said, "he fell | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
short of standards expected of one in miss -- his post", could the same | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
be said of you? I don't think. We had private issues were being put | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
into the public media. That wasn't the role of the Chairman of the | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
Trust. We have taken decisions over the course of the last few days, in | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
relation to the Northern Trust to turn that Trust around. It's | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
important we make those decisions and we are strong on this. That | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
Trust has been failing in a number of areas. You have been damaged by | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
this? In terms of this process I think the Trusts have been damaged. | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
They have damaged their own credibility. You have not been | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
damaged? There has been a focus of attention on myself. I know what you | :17:51. | :17:57. | |
think about the Trust. Has this been your worse week in politics? | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
hasn't. You have had worse weeks?I can deal with this issue and get on | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
top of this issue. We will provide better care for the elderly. Provide | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
better options for the elderly. We should be identifying how do we | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
provide the best possible care for elderly population. That is | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
something I will not lose direction on what so ever. For how much longer | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
will you be the Health Minister? as long as myth First Minister... | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
Has it foreshortened your stay in the Executive? You will have to ask | :18:32. | :18:41. | |
the First Minister. I haven't heard of it if it is the case. Thank you | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
While it's clearly been a busy time for the Health Minister, it's also | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
been pretty hectic for our health correspondent, Marie-Louise | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
Connolly. What do you make of what the Minister has had to say? What | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
impresses me the most is that the Minister consistently arguing that | :18:53. | :19:00. | |
he did not know what the Trusts were going to do. As a journalist I find | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
that hard to believe when we are communicating between the Department | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
of Health and the health trusts and waiting on statements from the | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
health Trusts we are told it is coming because it has to be signed | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
off by someone in the Department. There is a very close line of | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
communication between the two. It is very hard to believe that the Trusts | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
made such a significant decision and a consistent decision. They were | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
singing off the same hymn sheet without the Minister hoping. Trouble | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
do you think Edwin Poots is in as Health Minister tonight? Is he in | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
trouble? Yes, I think he is. He is in trouble because the health | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
portfolio is the most significant of all the portfolios in the Executive. | :19:44. | :19:50. | |
It shares the biggest slice of the budget cake and dealing with the | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
most emotive issues that the health department or any of the departments | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
come across you are dealing with life-and-death issues. Health | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
impacts on every voter. It has become a political issue. We saw | :20:01. | :20:08. | |
that today by both the Deputy and First Minister stepping it. It's no | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
longer a health problem, it's a political problem. What can be | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
learnt from the events of the past 24-hours? Everything else that is | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
going to come from transforming your care, it will be a lot better | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
managed, better choreographed. This has been a PR disaster for the | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
Department of Health. In particular for the Health Minister. I think | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
this has to be a big test for the Executive, let us face it, they | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
don't like making unpopular decisions. Look what happened with | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
water charges. Are they going to have the courage to see their | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
convictions through? Will they follow this policy through? It's a | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
policy that has been in the making for three to five years. Will they | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
pull the plug because of bad publicity? I don't think so. It's | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
not a surprise he didn't want to be drawn on his future as Health | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
Minister tonight on this programme. Could this be a reason for him to be | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
moved out of his position sooner rather than later? We know he will | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
be moved, we know, it might it be next week instead of next month? | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
think it could be. Talking on the public reaction today we have heard | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
quite a lot of public furore saying this is not good enough. Let's face | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
it, it impacts on all of us where we will spend the latter part of our | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
lives. It is a vote loser. Is it a vote winner? The question we have to | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
be asking tonight, can the Minister do enough to turn this situation | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
around? Also, what it highlights, is the lack of opposition within | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
Stormont. The lack of scrutiny, the lack of challenging going on. It was | :21:40. | :21:50. | |
a lot different when his prescissor was in the seat. Thank you. | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
Now, something completely different. Given a choice which would you | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
prefer, a party or a parade? Well, this year the Lord Mayor of | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
Belfast, Gavin Robinson, has gone for the party option headlined by | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
Matt Cardle to mark the end of his term in office. | :22:03. | :22:13. | |
:22:13. | :22:16. | ||
Good idea or will you be hankering done this before? They haven't done | :22:16. | :22:23. | |
that before. There is a lot of people in the city, not just younger | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
people who aren't interesting in that. Maybe for everyone. Can you do | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
a parade and a concert? Like a parade that ferns with a concert? | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
might attract more people to the venue and more people might learn | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
about it than offering public official event. It might be better. | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
Anything that attracts young people into the city centre is a good | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
thing. Not to knock the old, if it brings an influx that is only a good | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
thing for the city centre. Something for the young ones then. | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
With me now our commentators, Professor Pete Shirlow from Queen's | :23:03. | :23:12. | |
University and Sam McBride from the Newsletter. Let us talk about the | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
issue of the week the health story and the handling of that. You looked | :23:15. | :23:22. | |
at what the Minister said and here what marry Louise had to say. How a | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
Big problem is this for the Minister and his Department? It's enormous | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
problem with a Minister being as contrite as he was today. His | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
performance on Talk Back he realised people were furious at this. He held | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
his hands up as high as he could say, I'm with you on this. Whether | :23:43. | :23:49. | |
this is enough to overturn the public anger, I'm not sure. I think | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
the central problem that he has is that he campaigned against pretty | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
much what he is doing now, as we saw on the clip earlier. It's very | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
difficult, I think, to make a credible case for closing care homes | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
when you have been photographed campaigning against it. Many of the | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
things that Edwin Poots has done as Health Minister have been bold and | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
gone against the populous line the Executive has tended to take. He has | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
tried to listen to what the health profession penaltiesals have said in | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
centralising bigger and better hospitals. It's difficult to see how | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
he can push aheaded with this particular policy. It seems as if it | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
has snuck up on them That was the point when you interviewed him | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
there, the question you asked about how did you not know? There was an | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
inadequate answer to that. The policy is not wrong. It's clearly | :24:41. | :24:47. | |
this has been a Hiroshima, it hit all of a sudden. No real reason or | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
explanation. What we know about the NHS is you have to have confidence | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
in it, confidence as a patient and confidence in the people who | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
administer it. Also with those in political power. That is the centre | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
core system that is the NHS which is public confidence. Do you think he | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
will stay or go? I think... There have been rumours that even before | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
that perhaps he would stay because Peter Robinson was impressed with | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
his performance and Jim Wells will be pushed back longer. If it's | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
damaging Peter Robinson he will not be too long in moving him out of the | :25:22. | :25:29. | |
way. We will talk about your moment of the week. Statistics leapt out | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
from the page? Yesterday at the health committee the issue about | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
27,000 appointments were missed over two years by consultants on leave. | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
I, work out at 50 to 60 per day. There is a problem with people | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
turning up for appointments etc, if we a situation where consultants, | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
the question was asked yesterday in the Assembly, is this because they | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
are doing private work? The other factor that came out of this, the | :25:55. | :26:02. | |
private consultants are six times more productive when they work in | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
the private consultancy than in the NHS. The people in the | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
private-sector are working in the NHS. That was part of their | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
contract. There are questions to be asked there about why this is | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
happening. Sam, your moment of the week? Slip of the tongue by Martin | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
McGuinness in the Assembly earlier this week where he was meaning to | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
say IFA, as in the Irish Football Association he said the IRA. It made | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
people smile. Another look at what he said. I think the work that is | :26:29. | :26:39. | |
:26:39. | :26:41. | ||
happening within the IRA, sorry... Within the IFA... OH! Raised a few | :26:41. | :26:50. | |
eyebrows? That laughster, genuine laughter from the unionist benches | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
isn't something you would have seen years ago. There is a softening of | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
their approach to Martin McGuinness and to some of those other | :26:59. | :27:06. | |
controversial figures in the Sinn Fein benches. Your tweet of the | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
Fein benches. Your tweet of the week? One about Boris Johnson. He is | :27:11. | :27:21. | |
:27:21. | :27:30. | ||
a genius irrespective of what your We have the picture. He slip slipped | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
a "B" into the front of the Times. He was trying to get in the back | :27:33. | :27:42. | |
:27:43. | :27:43. | ||
door as it were. Looking ahead, Pete what do you look ahead to? On Sunday | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
night I'm seeing The Specials. It reminds me that many of the issues | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
we face today, collapsed property market, crisis in the welfare and | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
health system are very rant 30 years later. Shall we have a quick | :27:58. | :28:04. | |
reminder of the Special? We should do. You will take your son to this? | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
This is interesting. The first time I saw them I was 15. My son is 15. | :28:10. | :28:16. | |
When I saw them my arm was in a sling. My son's arm is in a sling. | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
Both came from rugby injuries. There will be no contact socially | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
throughout the night to destroy his teenage coolness. Absolutely. | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
issue of the Maze Peace Centre will be crucial in the next weeks and | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
months. Mounting anger among grassroots unionism. Difficult for | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
Peter Robinson to keep it on track. Thank you very much. | :28:38. | :28:41. |