He was speaking following the publication of new data from the Trainee Emergency Medicine Research Network (TERN), exposing the scale of corridor care in Northern Ireland hospitals as the worst in the UK.
The East Antrim MLA has said: “The findings from the Trainee Emergency Medicine Research Network must force an urgent change in direction within the Department of Health, after data confirmed Northern Ireland has the highest level of corridor care across the UK.
“Northern Ireland is now an outlier in the UK for people being treated in hospital corridors, and this must serve as a wake-up call. These figures are also from March, and with winter pressures now in full force, we do not need another report to know this problem is getting worse and nothing meaningful is being done to stop it.
“Our health service has been in a state of crisis for too long. The Minister must urgently bring forward constructive proposals to find efficiencies through the transformation and reform of the sector in a proper attempt to stabilise our health care.
“The consequences of political failure to take tough decision are what we are observing now – unsafe patient flow, overcrowded emergency departments, and people receiving care in conditions that none of us would want for ourselves or our families.
“Alliance has been consistent in calling for the need to transform and reform our health service in order to provide better care for the people of NI. The problems are both predictable and, ultimately, avoidable, and it’s beyond time the Minister started to address them.”
The East Antrim MLA has said: “The findings from the Trainee Emergency Medicine Research Network must force an urgent change in direction within the Department of Health, after data confirmed Northern Ireland has the highest level of corridor care across the UK.
“Northern Ireland is now an outlier in the UK for people being treated in hospital corridors, and this must serve as a wake-up call. These figures are also from March, and with winter pressures now in full force, we do not need another report to know this problem is getting worse and nothing meaningful is being done to stop it.
“Our health service has been in a state of crisis for too long. The Minister must urgently bring forward constructive proposals to find efficiencies through the transformation and reform of the sector in a proper attempt to stabilise our health care.
“The consequences of political failure to take tough decision are what we are observing now – unsafe patient flow, overcrowded emergency departments, and people receiving care in conditions that none of us would want for ourselves or our families.
“Alliance has been consistent in calling for the need to transform and reform our health service in order to provide better care for the people of NI. The problems are both predictable and, ultimately, avoidable, and it’s beyond time the Minister started to address them.”