Healthcare standard for elderly 'a disgrace'

The standard of health services offered to the elderly is a national disgrace, Alliance delegate Stephen McSherry told his party’s annual conference.

The Strangford delegate told the health debate that the older generation had been promised a service which would take care of them ‘‘from the cradle to the grave for the sacrifices they made over two World Wars.

‘‘The abandonment of our elderly citizens is nothing short of a national scandal.’’

Mr McSherry called for increased spending, with the opening of more hospital beds as a short term measure to deal with the ‘‘immediate and pressing problem’’ of hospital overcrowding.

He added: ‘‘We must realise that when we talk about beds what we really mean is staff. Every hospital has plenty of empty beds, even whole wards lying idle due to chronic shortages of staff.

‘‘We must invest in student nurse education as a priority. The Northern Ireland Assembly could begin by raising bursaries to equivalent levels as for student nurses in the rest of the UK to show commitment to and respect for the nurses of the future.’’

South Belfast delegate Councillor Geraldine Rice criticised community care policies, claiming the assistance offered to women to remain at home for elderly relatives was insufficient.

‘‘Nowadays many woman have to work to provide for the needs for their families and I believe this trend will continue,’’ she said.

‘‘Also the growth in numbers of lone parents, people living alone and greater family mobility will have an effect on the number of carers available and so add to the difficulty in providing carers in the community.’’

Alliance delegates were asked to endorse a motion expressing their concern at waiting lists and calling for per capita spending on health and social services in Northern Ireland to be increased to the European average, with money addressing primary care and preventive measures.

However Antrim doctor Brian McConnell argued the motion was ‘‘naive,’’ arguing that a much more balanced and integrated approach was required.

‘‘I don’t deny that social care is a problem,’’ he acknowledged.

‘‘But we cannot ignore the trolley waits where the elderly are having to wait 48 hours for treatment, fractures where there are delays of two weeks rather than 24 hours and the delays in cardiac surgery and cancer treatment.’’

Belfast councillor Tom Ekin also criticised the motion, claiming money could not just be thrown at current problems in the health service.

‘‘We are focusing on wrong things.

‘‘Why are we focusing on hospitals and acute care when we could be addressing this through adequate resources to primary care?’’

The motion was carried.