Richard Boyd Barrett Backs Northern Nurses' Pay Parity, Warns of Health Crisis
Richard Boyd Barrett spoke on the crisis in health services across Northern Ireland, the Republic and the UK, urging support for striking health workers and pay parity. He warned that pay inequality and chronic underinvestment are driving staff shortages, long waits and overcrowding.
Health service crisis and industrial action
Richard Boyd Barrett outlined recent industrial action in Northern Ireland, noting nurses on strike and other health workers on strike or work to rule. He said strikes stem from a "shocking inequality" in pay and pay caps compared with Britain and described similar problems north and south - high waiting lists, overcrowding and recruitment and retention failures.
Support for pay parity and service quality
He declared full support for health workers in the north fighting for pay parity, arguing that what's at stake is the quality of health services. He linked pay inequality to the inability to recruit staff, the reliance on agencies and the emigration of health workers.
Role of the British-Irish bodies after Brexit
He reviewed attendance norms at the British-Irish Council and suggested the body and the BIIGC could take an enhanced, more structured role after Brexit. Proposals mentioned included monitoring the common travel area, security cooperation and regular meetings - possibly a yearly summit of heads of government and more frequent ministerial bilaterals.
Scottish referendum briefing and political timing
The Scottish first minister briefed him on plans for a potential second independence referendum, which would require UK government consent. He said the outcome of imminent Westminster elections and the UK's Brexit intentions could affect timing and the prospects for such a vote.
Northern Ireland institutions and the Good Friday Agreement
He described the situation in Northern Ireland as dynamic, with Westminster results and Brexit uncertainty shaping prospects for talks to resume. He said renewed certainty on the UK government and Brexit could create an opportunity to re-establish institutions and pursue full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
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I'd be interested to know were they aware of the alarming similarities in terms of the crisis in the health services both north and south of this island and in the UK and I say that because today health workers in the north are on strike on December the 18th nurses will come out on strike they're on work to rule today other health workers are already on strike and the reason they're on strike is because of a really shocking inequality between nurses and health workers in the NHS in the north and those in Britain where nurses and health workers in the north get paid less have caps on their pay than their equivalents in the UK this shocking inequality was initially supported by DUP health ministers in the assembly and then maintained by Michelle O'Neill the Sinn Fein minister when she was health minister in 2017 and certainly on behalf of people before profit I want to say just as we said to nurses when they went out on strike for decent paying conditions in the south that we fully support health workers in the north fighting for pay parity and what's at stake is actually the quality of health services in the north which are suffering exactly the same problems as our health service down here. Massively high waiting lists, huge overcrowding, terrible conditions for health workers and as a result they can't recruit enough health workers and those health workers are leaving to go and work for agencies or just leaving the country altogether. Sounds very familiar last count Corle doesn't it? So in the worst way we have similarities north and south and in the UK in the mistreatment and the underinvestment in our health services but I think we should all support the nurses and the health workers in the north who are taking industrial action to remedy that inequality. Thanks very much. Just to say that when it comes to the British Irish council it hasn't been the norm for the United Kingdom prime minister to attend since its inception. I think David Cameron may have attended one of the meetings perhaps in London or a few during his term of office but it's been the norm since its inception to send a different senior cabinet minister to attend the BIC to represent the UK government. In terms of the future role I believe both the British Irish council and the BIIGC can have an enhanced future role after Brexit with the British Irish council perhaps taking responsibility for monitoring issues around the common travel area and maybe even security cooperation as well and cooperation among the regions. I think it operates on an ad hoc basis becoming more permanent more structured with regular meetings perhaps one summit once a year involving the two heads of government and then bilateral meetings involving ministers and their teams because when the UK leaves the European Union we'll still have a lot to talk about and we won't have the opportunity to meet four or five times a year in Brussels as we do now. I know Deputy Martin mentioned the Nordic Council as a potential model and I think that's something we need to examine. The intention now is to take it up with the Prime Minister after their elections which happen next week as you know. The Scottish independence referendum, first minister Surgeon took the opportunity to brief me on her thoughts and her plans about it and she informed me that it was her intention and the intention of the Scottish government to have a second referendum in Scotland on independence in the next number of years but of course they will need the consent of the UK government to do that and that may depend on the outcome of the elections next week as well. So on the general situation in Northern Ireland it is very dynamic at the moment there are a lot of moving parts one is the outcome of the Westminster elections which will impact on things next week as to who is the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and whether that government has a majority or not and then also there's still uncertainty about Brexit and whether the withdrawal agreement can be ratified but I think there's a potential in the next couple of weeks for us to to get some certainty both on the UK government and also on the UK's intentions with regard to Brexit and I think that creates the opportunity for talks to resume in Northern Ireland around re-establishing the institutions again and functioning again and also the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the problems that are being experienced in the health service in Northern Ireland and I make the point of at least looking at the front pages of all the Northern Ireland newspapers every day and he's absolutely right there's a major major problems in the health service in Northern Ireland that are not dissimilar to the ones faced here in the UK or indeed in very many jurisdictions around the Western world. I think the front page of the Belfast Telegraph the past three or four days has been leading with health stories around the strikes, around problems with cancer tests, around problems with waiting lists and access and it is sadly a feature of the vast majority of public health services in the Western world to different extents and the extents do vary. The problems are very similar. The problems are very similar, waiting times, overcrowding in emergency departments, difficulty recruiting and retaining staff. I know the German health minister is currently seeking 50,000 more nurses. The UK NHS talks about 100,000 vacancies and even the whole issue of overspending and health trusts and so on, not being able to stick to budget are very similar, albeit to different extents and different levels of severity in different jurisdictions. One thing, though, we should say about our health service, which often gets missed, often the focus is always on overcrowding and trolleys and understand why that is. What we don't focus on, which I think is unfair on our health service and our health service staff, a little bit more is patient outcomes. The fact that, for example, somebody who gets cancer in Ireland has a better chance of survival than somebody who gets cancer and gets treated by the NHS in any part of the NHS, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The fact that we are seeing real improvements in patient outcomes around stroke, around heart attack, life expectancy, all of those patient outcomes and indicators in our health service are going in the right direction. And that doesn't happen by accident, it happens because of investment, because of good strategies, good policies and also the phenomenal work of the staff who work in our health service and I think that should be recognised more. It has been the same with of the test and of course there that we can recognise more in some place – And that's why we need to recognise more. DANIEL
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