MLA candidate Cllr Cadogan Enright has demanded that the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness provide the same guarantees to the Downe Hospital as he has provided for Altnagalvin Hospital in Derry.
MLA Candidate Cllr Cadogan Enright said, “Martin McGuiness was able to go on Radio Ulster on Friday morning and guarantee that the Radiology Unit in Altnagalvin Hospital would be going ahead after the elections on the 5th May. This shows that Sinn Fein are so confident about the outcome of the forthcoming election that they expect to win the health ministry or be in a position to influence the decisions of the new Health Minister. I therefore call on Martin McGuiness to make similar promises to the Downe Hospital, and for his local representatives to back my call to this effect.”
“The Accident and Emergency Unit in Downpatrick is being downgraded because the Hospital Trust claims they cannot recruit staff. This is a problem that Martin McGuiness can direct the new Minister to fix,” said Cllr Enright.
Cadogan Enright pointed out that McGuiness’s authoritative statement on Altnagalvin Hospital begs the question as to how effective our political representatives have been in South Down this last 10 years. “Rather than using their votes for instance to block the passage of the budget, they have meekly stood aside while the acute patient psychiatric specialist unit is transferred from the Downe Hospital up to Lagan Valley Hospital. It is clear that our local representatives cannot deliver in the way that Martin McGuiness is delivering for Derry.”
“I am calling on our local Sinn Fein MLA’s Willie Clarke and Catriona Ruane as well as our SDLP MP & MLA Margaret Ritchie and our two Unionist MLA’s who are actually on the Stormont Health Committee to provide the same categorical insurances in support of the Downe Accident and Emergency Service and Acute Psychiatric Unit,” concluded Cllr Cadogan Enright.