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Tag: Colm Gildernew

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Decision of Nurses to Strike

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Decision of Nurses to Strike

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, on 9 November 2022.

    Nurses shouldn’t have been forced onto the streets to take strike action.

    They should have fair pay and conditions for the amazing work that they do, particularly as the cost of living continues to rise.

    Without fair pay and safe working conditions, it becomes much tougher to retain skilled health and social workers. That needs to be addressed.

    I am writing to the British Chancellor telling him to get on with delivering a fair pay award for our nurses now. They shouldn’t have to wait.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Tackling Child Waiting Lists

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Tackling Child Waiting Lists

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, on 27 October 2022.

    Fresh figures released by the Department of Health today on the number of children waiting to see a consultant are staggering and reinforce the immediate need to fix the health service.

    It’s totally unacceptable and deeply concerning that children are waiting four years to see a consultant.

    We need an Executive formed today and parties working together to deliver a three-year budget and invest the extra £1 billion needed to start to cut chronic waiting lists.

    I echo the call from the Royal College of Physicians today for more investment in the health service and for parties to get back around the Executive table.

    The DUP has an opportunity to form a government and get on with the job people elected us to do and that’s to live up to their commitment to make health a priority.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Adult and Social Care Services

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Adult and Social Care Services

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the Sinn Fein MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, on 12 October 2022.

    The Adult and Social Care sector is provided by community organisations who support vulnerable people to live independently.

    We have heard that the services they provide are under huge pressure and on the brink of collapse.

    The negative impact of this failure is being felt by patients and their families who are not getting the respite they need.

    It is shameful for the DUP to sit on their hands while people are being forced to remain in hospital beds, which are sorely needed.

    Many health and social care workers are facing burnout as they struggle to support a health service which is already on its knees.

    They need immediate support.

    The DUP should respect the democratic outcome of the Assembly election and work with others to help fix the health service.

    Sinn Féin is ready to form an Executive today to invest an extra £1 billion in the health service over a three-year budget, to tackle waiting lists, recruit more doctors and nurses and support and support mental health and cancer services.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Healthcare in Northern Ireland

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Healthcare in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the Sinn Fein Health Spokesperson in Northern Ireland, on 16 September 2022.

    Reports that pressures in our health service had led to 300 more deaths than expected this year are staggering and underlines the urgent need to get the Executive up and running and for all parties to work together to make health the priority.

    How much longer will the DUP sit on the sidelines and continue to boycott government while people suffer on waiting lists and our health service continues to feel the pressure?

    We will meet the health minister next week on the urgent need to recruit more doctors and nurses, cut waiting lists and to properly invest in our cancer and mental health services.

    Sinn Féin is ready to form an Executive today, to work with others, and start to fix our health service by investing an extra £1 billion and securing a three-year Budget.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on GP Availability Crisis in Northern Ireland

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on GP Availability Crisis in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the spokesperson for Sinn Fein on health, on 16 August 2022.

    It is concerning to hear how surgeries are struggling to cope in our growing health crisis.

    We have news of several GP practices in Belfast applying to close down access to new patients joining them.

    Too many patients are not getting the care they need while others struggle to get to see a doctor at all and urgent action is needed to address this.

    We need an Executive up and running now to invest an extra £1 billion in the health service to recruit more doctors and nurses, to help people who can’t get access to a GP and are stuck on waiting lists.

    The DUP should end its boycott of government now, form an Executive and stop blocking this money being put into our health service.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Health in Northern Ireland

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Health in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the Sinn Féin spokesman for Health, on 2 August 2022.

    After over a decade of cruel cuts and underinvestment in our health service, the Tories are once again demonstrating that they are bad for your health.

    Rather than playing politics with the NHS, the Tories should stop giving cover to the DUP to block an Executive and efforts to invest an extra £1 billion in our health service.

    Sinn Féin are ready to form an Executive today to tackle waiting lists, to recruit more doctors and nurses and fund cancer and mental health services.

    Health workers like many other workers at this time are struggling with the rising cost of living and are entitled to fair pay and conditions.

    The British government needs to get real and start taking action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and record-breaking inflation that is impacting workers and families now.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Bank Closures in Northern Ireland

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on Bank Closures in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the Sinn Féin MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, on 16 May 2022.

    These latest closures are a hammer blow to rural communities which will be deprived of banking services and I would urge Dankse Bank to listen to customers and maintain services.

    It is Sinn Féin’s view that there should be no bank branch closures and planned closures should be paused to evaluate customer behaviour post-pandemic.

    While the trend is towards increasing digital banking, for some customers this is not convenient or possible and for rural communities, important services are disappearing.

    Sinn Féin would like to see a future banking forum so that policy makers, banks and other stakeholders can discuss issues including banking in a digital age and how banks and other service providers can best respond to serve customers and communities that rely on their services.

  • Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on the Needs of Cancer Patients in Northern Ireland

    Colm Gildernew – 2022 Comments on the Needs of Cancer Patients in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Colm Gildernew, the Sinn Fein MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, on 10 May 2022.

    People on cancer waiting lists need an Executive back up and running now.

    Macmillan Cancer Support has said today that 82,000 people in the north are currently living with the disease and that these numbers are set to rise.

    They have called for urgent investment to tackle the crisis in cancer services as people waiting on critical interventions for cancer have no time for any more delay.

    The Executive should be restored immediately and the additional £1 billion for health proposed by Finance Minister Conor Murphy should be used to tackle the waiting lists and the crises in cancer and mental health services.

    We need to recruit more doctors and nurses and give the health minister the resources to do this now.

    This is about treating patients who are suffering and saving lives.

    It’s well past time for the DUP to end their boycott of the Executive and get back to work for people who need it most.