26/03/2012 Stormont Today

Hello, and welcome to Stormont Today. As the sun shone on

Parliament buildings and the temperature soared outside of the

chamber, things were getting hot and heavy inside, as well.

He should call, he is the person who has not been able to deliver.

He is the person that one year ago was stalking the bid talks, I am

going to do this, I am going to do that. We have seen what happens

when you make decisions - absolute chaos, absolute destruction of the

NHS. And Colin last orders for

irresponsible drinking. The there are a small number who

are clearly on the wrong side of the law, and they now need their

irresponsible practices to become bitter.

My guest at the seizing his the BMA's Dr Paul Barrar, who is aware

A premature and wrong decision, that is how the closure of Belfast

City Hospital's A&E department was described in the chamber today.

What is your view on that closure? I think it is a positive sign that

this issue is being debated at the higher levels of our local

Government and the Assembly. It is being given the prominence it

deserves. There has been a long- standing problem with the provision

of emergency services across the province. We saw it in Ulster two

years ago leading to the reconfiguration of a hospital there

and withdrawal of acute services and the A&E department. These

issues are due to be addressed in the Compton review. In the short

term, we need to deal with the issue as it is and we have seen

demonstrated it -- seen it demonstrated graphically at the

Royal Victoria Hospital to stop a should the A&E department be re-

opened? I think there needs a look -- needs

to be a look at all those factors are of -- factors that contributed

to that incident, and that means looking at how referrals are made,

whether they be self referrals by the patient themselves or by a GP.

Those processes within of the A&E department, tree azure systems,

management systems, and how the A&E department to react and enter links

with a hospital. And how it operates, because that

seems to be part of the problem, doesn't it? It is not a question of

how many departments we have, but how they are operated, people

sitting for hours on end. Indeed, for example the number of

beds within other wards within the hospital will determine how quickly

you can move a patient from the A&E department to another ward. They

may be waiting to get to a bed in another ward in hospital.

The Ulster Unionist Party has called on the health minister to

resign. Basil McRae made at the demand to

resign during a debate on the Royal. Members were keen to hear what the

Minister was going to do to ease the situation.

Like the rest of the committee members, I was hugely impressed

with the demonstration -- demonstration of professionalism

from the medical staff. They are committed to dealing with this

problem and indeed the senior management of the Belfast Trust is

committed to dealing with the problem. The reality is, accident

and the beds they cannot cope with this on its own. I have commended

the staff of the A&E department, because I know they are doing a

great job, I have said the problem is not accent and dependency, it is

other parts of the hospital. The need to be supported by other parts

of the hospital. A unfortunately, the situation at

the Royal is something of a microcosm of an unacceptable

situation in A&E departments across the North. We have to ask why.

There are too many people presenting at A&E departments who

have no need to be there. At 2008 reviewed indicated attendances at

Kearney here were plenty-30 % higher -- 20-30 % higher than in

other islands. Mr Deputy Speaker, the premature

closure of the City Hospital has been a total disaster. Anyone with

a brain at all what will have known or should have known that some

40,000 patients will have to go somewhere. It is totally obvious

this was a premature and wrong decision. Certainly, until proper

provision was available somewhere else. And how a QC in 2008-09, as

compared today, the Health Minister of that you had an odd lift of some

�500 million. Where did that money go? -- and a

lift. How is it glad we got to the year 2011 and did not see the

improvement? We did not see the improvements, Mr Deputy Speaker,

from that time until now, and one would want to know how the money

was spent and where it has went, because I do believe there is

considerable money within the system, and we need to ensure we

spend that money wisely. We do not waste money within a our health

service. Wes Brown was talking about issues

to do with County Antrim. She said that heads Muzzle, I agree with her.

Heads must roll. He is the person who has not been able to deliver,

he is the person but a year ago was talking the big talk, I am going to

do that, I am going to make the decisions. We have seen what

happens when you make the decisions - absolute chaos, absolute

destruction of the NHS. That is what you were responsible for. You,

Minister, should be ashamed of yourself.

Minimum alcohol surprising and so- called booze buses have been in the

spotlight recently. -- alcohol pricing. During question time,

ministers said it was time for everyone to get at their Houses in

order. Irresponsible actions, be it by

those who sell drink or those who are the excessive drinking on buses

and coaches is something that this Assembly, through all the various

ministers, needs to bear down on. There are issues that clearly now

need to be addressed. In my meetings with bus and coach

operators and nightclubs I said very firmly that the media

spotlight is very much concentrated on them and there and -- their

activities. There are many good bus and coach operators. There are many

responsible sellers of drink, both in of seals and on sales. There are

at a small number who are clearly on the wrong side of the law and

the need their irresponsible practices to be curbed. I will be

bringing forward various proposals on licences in the near future.

The Alex at Lake then moved on to responsibilities of developers.

This issue about developers who are in development seeking planning

applications, who are getting planning permissions and at the

same time are leading to rack and ruin sites that have not been

developed for been abandoned during development is an issue I think we

need to address. At this stage we may be going as

far as imposing fines on developers who cease -- continued to trade who

failed to complete works in order to make sure they step up to the

mark and go forward. The Health Minister was next,

answering questions about community pharmacy.

I remain utterly committed to establishing a sustainable way

forward for community pharmacy that will make better use of skilled and

dedicated professionals to provide high-quality advice and support to

patients in the wider community. I also announced in the Assembly on

16th March that an additional �8 million of funding for 2012 has

been released and is available to support new services, improve

premises and support staff in rural and deprived areas. I have had to

proceed on the best evidence available. I know: community

pharmacies to agreed to participate in the surveys my department will

now be undertaking and to provide the farm at -- further information

that is needed. The longer this information is withheld at the

longer it will take to arrive at an agreed solution.

Can the Minister outline what steps he is taking to be in contact with

community pharmacists? As I am sure he is well aware, they believe this

falls short of what they had originally anticipated.

I would tend to agree that it does fall short of what was anticipated,

albeit perhaps what was anticipated was not correct in the first

instance. I have instructed officials to try to engage with

officials -- pharmacists, because negotiations were very much about

what had already happened in 2011- 12. I do think there is a huge

opportunity to move forward together to make proper use of our

community pharmacists and give them the requisite amount of money for

the services they provide. Can the Minister give an assessment

to on the scope for the efficiencies in administration and

management within the health service?

I personally think it is substantial. In this particular

case the savings we would be aiming for as the years transpire will

actually take us to around �17 million per gear. We should not

ignore that, because if we spend that sort of money on

administration, we don't have it to spend on hip-replacement, we don't

have it to spend on Accident and Emergency, we don't have it to

spend on new cancer drugs. By a member was here today is saying,

you should be spending on that on administration as opposed to the

other things. I am afraid I would have to disagree with those members.

I have to say I will be standing by my manifesto election commitments

and disagreeing with those members who want to spend health money on

administration. I want to spend it We were talking about drink, and it

is a massive problem in the hospitals, isn't it? Yes,

especially on a Friday or Saturday night. Gauthier Andy and you will

see the damage that alcohol can do. We're talking about assaults, road

traffic accidents and then we sometimes have people coming in

with the long-term results of alcohol. Do we have time to wait

for the review to sort these issues out? There is a sense of urgency

here and there is not seemingly a sense of urgency? There are many

things we can do now. Minimum pricing on alcohol, and then go to

the use of alcohol as a lost leader in some of our big shops. Alcohol

is too readily available. The BMA does not see itself as a killjoy,

we think there is a role for alcohol in society but that alcohol

should be enjoyed responsibly and safely. Sue Ramsey resisted earlier

that there are problems of other parts of the hospitals. What about

this idea that GPs should and have to go through a n d to get a

patient admitted into hospital and that might cut down some of the

traffic? That is something that needs to be looked at between

cranny care physicians and those doctors who work in hospitals. It

is certainly something we need to look at but it needs to be looked

at in the round. There is a lot we need to do. The Minister talks

about the shift on to them Compton review about shifting care into

private care. With people being treated at home? Yes, which would

relieve a lot of the pressure on hospitals and secondary care. But

to do that, it needs to be planned and managed and resourced. Prison

officers and the justice minister David Ford have reached agreement

on new working practices. The Prison Service has been plagued by

bad reviews and poor relations between staff and management. David

Ford told the chamber that was now coming to an end.

They have been a further review of body imaging scanners in line with

the report. On the basis of that review, I intend to initiate a

pilot of a full body imaging scanners as soon as the necessary

authorisation for use of this technology in prisons is obtained.

Caress him to outline on page four or, he refers to the further review

of full body imaging scanners will stop the Minister will be aware of

how emotive this matter is. Could he outlined a time frame and target

for the introduction of this mechanism and who does he need

authorisation from to go forward? He referred to the issue of full

body searching it as being emotive and it certainly is. The prison

service in Northern Ireland uses full body searching when necessary

in order to ensure the safety and security of prisoners and prison

officers. It is clearly something that we would wish to move away

from where we can provide that security without full body

searching. I can, at this stage, give no timescale for the

introduction of the technology. I can give a commitment that as soon

as licensing is agreed, it is my intention that they have an island

prison service will be able to make sure they can use the technology to

see how quickly it is possible to introduce alternatives to full-body

searching but the necessity is to insure safety. Good read as the

Minister did he receive legal advice on the conditions that can

be attached for present officers. Did he read the advice or rely on

some missions from officials? not personally read legal advice on

the issues of the severance package, I think it is entirely reasonable

that ministers should read officials but the point is about

re-engagement of prison officers, I cannot give him the news that 4900

applicants for the new custody officer posts which were received

by the Department, one comes from a serving a prison officer. If there

is not agreement on the uniform, does that mean the existing uniform

will prevail for all staff? I got a made it clear in response to my

first answer that the issue of uniforms for new staff may be

something different than what is there currently but we have clearly

established in this chamber in the past the precise detail of uniforms

might well be regarded as controversial as to require

Executive approval. Journey me now is the chair of the justice

committee, are you happy this will end the antagonism that has existed

between prison officers and management? I think the process

should be welcomed. Leadership have stretched themselves to try and

accommodate prison service management and that has required

compromise but ultimately the finer detail still needs to be worked out

but is moving in the right direction and we should welcome

that. A sign of the Times, the number of people applying for jobs

that will be indicated by people taking redundancy packages? 200 new

custody officers, they wanted to ensure that you are selected on the

basis of merit. We have changed the fifty-fifty recruitment, these

individuals will come forward on merit but it does show the

difficulties in our economy when so many people are applying for these

jobs but it is a job that is valued so I can understand the demand that

exists for it. What about the issue of uniform, when it came in?

issue has been dealt with and I think it is important that it was

resolved when David Ford race that initially. Peter Robinson made it

very clear that emblems and badges was not going to change and would

be subject to the be to we have in the Executive. That has been

clarified, it is important we get into the fine detail of how the

prisoners going to operate, the structures that will be put in

place, the environment you are working in so that we can focus on

those details rather than being fixated with a uniform. When it

comes down to the body imaging equipment that David Ford has been

talking about, how important is that any attempts to resolve the

Maghaberry dispute? That dispute is a long running one which needs to

come to an end and David Ford needs to stand very firmly on the

agreement that he had reached and should not be compromising with

republicans that are protesting over this issue. The prison

officers have made it clear that if there is technology that allows

them to do the same job as they have been carrying out, they will

support that. Ultimately, the safety of the security of those

officers is paramount to ensure that prisoners that have been the

past smuggled in Semtex, isn't allowed to happen again so let's

see if this technology will get a licence to be operated within the

UK but we shouldn't compromise the safety of the jail to facilitate

these protesters. But it won't detect drugs which is surely a much

greater problem for our prisons than a genuine threat of Semtex

organs being smuggled and? Drugs is rife within a prison population, a

significant issue in terms of the security of the present because

some prisoners alleged are allowed to have medication in order to

achieve a peaceful environment. That cannot be a sustainable way

forward in the future. Medically it would not be good for prisoners to

be taken of these drugs and that is something that needs to be dealt

with. Be careful what you write on social

media at be particularly careful what you write about politicians.

Especially if you are about to appear before them. That is the

painful lesson are representative of life in search and rescue

learned last week. They will also hear from the justice committee but

we start at social development and that cringe for the moment. I went

into your own Facebook page and you are less than complimentary towards

us politicians in at tongue and Duke remarked. If you are wanting

to work with people. Read it out. It says all politicians can kiss my

sweet ass. I would love to get on that particular invitation! I will

not be taking you up on that. have not had a lot of dealings with

politicians. I must say that that is not reflective of our website,

that is my own a personal page. When you talk about my, but then

you say we in the second part. is not the page for the rescue

organisation. That is everybody's starting point. What has to be

weighed up is the extent to which, albeit this is a person of bad

character because they have confessed to involvement and a

crime, you cannot rely on what they have to say. There may be

circumstances where in fact that makes them all the more reliable

but there may be other circumstances where it makes them

unreliable. It has to be judged on the individual circumstances. It is

a question that would be impossible to answer in a simple form.

reasonable person, having read the media reports of the court case,

and having heard the character of the witnesses which was revealed in

the court and knowing that you knew that the character of those

witnesses long before it got to court are staggered. The

predecessor, knowing what he knew about the character of the

witnesses, thought there was any chance of their evidence standing

up in court, how did that happen? As I said, all accomplices are

witnesses of bad character because they are witnesses of bad character

that they are winners his chair crime. That is just starting point.

You have to look at the evidence they give to see whether or not it

is supported by other types of evidence or whether or not you

could seek to rely on it. Did you sit down and analyse the cases that

had collapsed, dozens in the Eighties, did you actually go and

look at the transcripts and see what happened? I have done, yes.

When I heard about this case, I thought they were going to problems

because it was the same basis as so many others that had collapsed. Do

you accept this has undermined public support, no, public

confidence in the system, the fact we have had yet another one of

these high-profile collapsing of cases? Of course I do, it is one of

the reasons I am here, apart from the fact I feel I haven't

obligation to inform this committee in broad terms about matters of

criminal-justice. I raised this issue because I am aware of those

concerns and the figure is important that the complexity of

these situations be articulated and the public be assured.

Foreign trips, and the Assembly to the report and an explosion in the

number of all-party groups, all in a day's work at Stormont.

We regularly have visitors from other areas but we are sending a

delegation of now to another area which is Kosovo in the Balkans and

the Speaker he rarely goes on these trips himself, is going with Judith

Cochrane from the Alliance Party and David McLarty, the independent

Unionist. This is a building of the relationship they have had put the

last few years in the Assembly in Kosovo in which they have been

exchanging research and IT. What is this about I here about we have

some competition? The Assembly is going into the TV business, it is

starting up a series of monthly programmes which is running on his

website. Inevitably I don't imagine that it will go in for many exposes

of the politicians here but they do have some interesting expand very

stuff about had system works. Here is an excerpt of the work of the

education service in the building. So, the Allies for getting rid of

school uniform was 32. The nose for 12. The eyes when. We seem to have

had an explosion in the number of all-party groups here? Yes, this is

a more informal side of Stormont Live. We have as many as 22 all-

party groups, many dealing with were the manners. Some of them may

be more left-field, there is an all-party group on funerals and

bereavement, and another one on rugby. There is one on

international development, even though that is not a devolved

matter and they will be active this week because they have some awards

on Thursday night, I have been written as one of the judges, so it

should be quite interesting. Schools and individuals all in for

those awards and one interesting guest will be Ian Clark, the

subject about BBC documentary this weekend, from County Armagh who is

now an air in part of Kampala, the you gander capital and could

probably teach hour home-grown politicians a thing or two about

his approach to dealing with problems of the people he is

representing their. The budget cuts that are coming

down the track for the health service, particularly hospitals,

just seemed unrealistic by? Everyone is aware of the current

financial crisis and the challenges it imposes on the health service.

There is room for efficiencies and doctors will not shirk from that

responsibility but where there is a need for increased funding to

deliver the care the patient needs, then we will be advocates for that.

Where funding comes from and the priorities for funding is a

discussion for wider society and for connected politicians but

surely what defines us as a society is how we care and that that did