Health Committee chairperson, Derry MLA Maeve McLaughlin
DERRY Sinn Féin MLA Maeve McLaughlin said today that the Health Minister is putting selfish electoral interests before the building crisis in waiting lists within the Health Service.
The chair of the health committee was speaking after a debate on hospital waiting lists, which Simon Hamilton failed to attend.
Maeve McLaughlin said: “Waiting lists within our health service have been growing alarmingly under the stewardship of DUP, long before the current contrived political crisis brought about by the unionist parties.
“There are hundreds of thousands of local people on waiting lists for outpatient appointments.
“The Health committee recently concluded a review into waiting times for elective care and brought five recommendations to the door of the Minister – today that door is firmly shut.
“It is impossible to tell if and when these recommendations are to be acted on as there is no one at the helm of the health service as Simon Hamilton is no longer at his desk.
“Simon Hamilton quoting statistics in a DUP press release is no substitute for the former health minister returning to his desk and working on behalf of all the sick and infirm in our society.”
