Cllr Emmet Doyle: Sinn Féin, SDLP Gut Healthcare Capacity and Now British Army is Being Called In
Aontú Cllr for Derry & Candidate for the Foyle Constituency, Emmet Doyle, has hit out at the Stormont Establishment parties for decimating healthcare capacity to the point now the British Military is being invited back in to relieve the Covid pressure on the NHS.
Cllr Emmet Doyle: “My research has found out that Sinn Féin and the SDLP have presided over the closure of more than 800 hospital beds across the North by the Stormont Executive. Since 2010 to before the pandemic we lost 887 beds across hospitals in the Health Service. Altnagelvin lost 31 beds alone, whilst Belfast City and Mater hospitals lost 145 and 76 respectively. In 2010, in Mid Ulster, there were only 78 available beds in hospitals. Today there are only 32 of those beds remaining – a 59% reduction in capacity. From 2010 to 2012, 48 beds were cut. The story is the same across the North. In South Tyrone, there are only 22 beds available – a 50% cut from the high of 45 available beds. In Tyrone & Fermanagh, there 98 available beds which is now down to 41 available beds – a 59% reduction in capacity. Even the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre has seen its beds reduced by 57% from 90 beds to 39.”
“It has reached such a point that now the British army might be invited in to relieve the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic. What does that say about the record of the nationalist parties in Stormont, that they need the British military to bail out their decisions? This has directly impacted our capacity to respond to a global pandemic and to protect our communities. This is the legacy of Sinn Féin and the SDLP in Stormont – of a burgeoning housing crisis, rampant social and economic inequality, and a decimated health service.”
