In a FOI released to Save The Mid, it is proven that clinical decisions are taken based on economic decisions and not patient safety as wildly touted by Health Chiefs, Colm & Sean Donaghy, John Compton and the Health Minister Edwin Poots.
Deloitte were commissioned in 2010 to review the need for extra opening hours at the Mid Ulster & Whiteabbey Minor Injury Units, it was deemed then based on the flawed report that no further opening hours were required. See Save The Mid submission to the Compton Health Review - link. What slaps more in the face of patients across Northern Ireland and Mid Ulster is that Health Minister Edwin Poots now wants Minor Injuries in Belfast.
It was found through the FOI that Deloitte were given the review to consult upon because they were economically the best choice, with absolutely no reference to their ability to make clinical decisions.
The Minor Injuries is not a lifesaving service, it has proven ineffective in combating waiting time within the Northern Health & Social Care Trust, it is a smoke screen by the Health Minister to quell a fatal mistake in the configuration of health services in Northern Ireland. Now Mr Poots would like the public to blame drinkers, obese people, and other people who go to A&E only to find their injury is not as severe to be the problem, he wishes for the public to stigmatise these people to create a smoke screen for his department to cut away services and blame everyone but the actual decision makers.
The Minor Injury review is a small example of how the Health Minster and Health Chiefs say in their PR trained voice that decisions are made for patient safety when in reality they are made according the cheapest price.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
Closure of Acute Services in Dungannon & Omagh, replaced with Minor Injuries, no development in network hospitals,
Closure of Acute Services in Mid Ulster & Whiteabbey, replaced with Minor Injuries, no development in network hospitals,
Both of the above have had a detrimental effect on the ability of the remaining acute hospitals to meet the demand that has been placed upon them, why now does Health Minister Mr Poots believe that the closure of Belfast City acute services & limited opening hours of Lagan Valley acute services and replacing it replaced with a Minor Injury Unit will work now
Questions are now being raised as to how a man could die on a trolley after waiting 22 hours to be admitted to a ward, the question that should be answered is Why Was He Laying There In The First Place? the corners report will state how he died but that is not enough to ensure that this does not happen in the future.
Why is the Health Minister Non-responsive in answering this question?
Why for January & February 2012 according to the DHPPS A&E waiting times were 2,904 people lying in A&E over 12 hours waiting for admitted or discharged from Accident and Emergency department across the country?
Why for the year 2011 according to the DHPPS A&E waiting times did 9,627 patients wait in trolleys and chairs over 12 hours to be admitted or discharged from Accident and Emergency department across the country?
The above is the first instance of insanity by the current Health Minister in that he is repeating mistakes done in the past, the second instance of insanity comes in allowing those who created and overseen the problems such as, John Compton CEO HSCB and Colm Donaghy CEO BHSCT to try and fix it.
It is time for leadership and direct decisions rather than the same insanity that has taken acute care to the brink in Northern Ireland.
"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."
Albert Einstein