Allister on North Southery and Health

I try to do only a few directly TUVish blogs but a couple of things on Jim Allister’s website struck me. Firstly Allister has called on the DUP to ensure efficiency savings in the funding of North South bodies; apparently last year these bodies received all the money they requested. In a time when public finances are under strain this does seem to be a sensible fairly non controversial suggestion. The other issue which caught my eye (living as I do amongst the Dreary Steeples) was his comments on the closure of Omagh Hospital (as I said in my first ever blog this is always a difficult issue). However, Allister has made an interesting suggestion: “….in any redistribution of resources, a paramount rule should be that before a single bed, acute or otherwise, is removed it should be matched by a replacement bed elsewhere.” Reconfigurations of hospital services, whilst sometimes necessary, are never popular: A commitment to keep the total number of beds the same might well help reduce public anxiety. I hope that the fact that the TUV have made both these proposals (on North South savings and hospitals) does not mean that other parties cannot support them.

Turgon

This author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.