SDLP Health Spokesperson Mark H Durkan MLA has said there are fundamental questions to be asked about the DUP/Sinn Féin pledge of an extra £1 Billion for the Health Service as crisis conditions grip trusts.

He said: “The word ‘crisis’ is used so often now that people have become totally numb to it. But there is no other way to describe the immense resourcing issues facing our health service.

“Before the last Assembly election, both the DUP and Sinn Féin made identical pledges of an extra £1 Billion for the health service. Both remain the largest parties and yet not an extra penny has been allocated to a service which is now being forced to find £70m of cuts.

“The inevitable outcome is reflected in today’s waiting list statistics which show that over 64,000 patients have been waiting longer than a year for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment. The Ministerial target is that no patient should wait that long. These are serious failings.

“We should never be numb to the challenges in our health service. We should never passively accept that patient outcomes will deteriorate, people will get sicker and some will die, not when we have it in our power to fix it.

“All parties should be focussed on restoring power sharing, resourcing our health service and getting down to the job people elected us to do.”

If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Derry Now editorial team on 028 7129 6600 for Derry City stories Or 028 7774 3970 for County Derry stories. Or you can email gareth@derrynews.net at any time.