Carroll: Health service "fraying at the seams" while unionism turns in on itself"
Mike Nesbitt's resignation is a symptom of a party that can't decide what it stands for," Gerry Carroll said. "The UUP is clearly a party at war with itself - on emergency surgery at Causeway, alongside a plethora of other issues - with patients and health workers caught in the middle."
"Our health service is fraying at the seams. In response to growing hospital waiting lists, overrun emergency departments and closures of services, Nesbitt chose to funnel money into private companies rather than properly fund the NHS. Reliance on private healthcare to reduce the North’s unacceptable health waiting lists is a dead end; profiteering companies have a vested interest in the destruction of our NHS. The Health Minister, like those before him, is choosing to funnel money into for-profit healthcare, rather than investing in our health and social care system.
''The Minister's resignation letter tells its own story. His u-turn on the puberty blockers trial had much more significant consequences than internal power struggles within the UUP. Young trans people were denied healthcare that is available elsewhere, thrown under the bus to keep the peace with a party leader nobody elected. This was a bitterly disappointing failure of leadership and of conviction.
"The fissures inside the UUP are reflective of widespread disarray across political unionism - with the DUP and TUV attempting to outflank each other, leaders installed unopposed or stepping down in disgrace and ministers jockeying for position ahead of May's election, instead of defending public services.
"Meanwhile the real crisis goes unanswered. From Coleraine to West Belfast, communities are watching services stripped to the bone while the Executive accepts underfunding without a fight. Workers and patients alike need a properly funded health service - not another unionist psychodrama."