Health Committee chairperson, Derry MLA Maeve McLaughlin
Derry Sinn Féin MLA Maeve McLaughlin has said she would look positively at addressing current pressures on the health service.
Ms McLaughlin was speaking after chairing a special meeting of the Assembly’s health committee at Stormont yesterday at which Health Minister Edwin Poots said as a result of budget restraints the opening of the new radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry would be delayed by six months.
Maeve McLaughlin said there “clearly pressures” on the health service and “adequate funding” needed to be assured to meet the needs of the sick and vulnerable.
She added: “That requires additional resources and additional scrutiny and the minister has said that there is still waste in his department.
“Sinn Féin will come at this positively; the health service is too important to be caught up in party politicking.
“We need to stretch ourselves to find funding in what are very challenging economic circumstances.”
Ms McLaughlin concluded: “On top of this we must ensure there is adequate scrutiny so that any additional resources are targeted at frontline services where they are most needed.”
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