by Gareth Cross

A member of the Western Trust board has said that they would have resisted controversial cuts if not for a last-minute reprieve.

The comments came from Board Member and non-executive Director Dr George McIllroy at an 'extraordinary' meeting of the Trust's board at the Foyle Arena last Friday.

He was speaking as the board gave the go-ahead for over £3m in savings.

The five health trusts in Northern Ireland were told by the Department of Health in August that they must implement savings of a total of £70m.

The local health body was asked to find a total of £12.5m in savings before the end of the financial year on March 31 next year.

They held a six-week public consultation on the proposed savings plan.

Their savings plan included a number of 'controversial' proposals including the merger of Rectory Field and William Street Care Homes and a reduction in domiciliary care packages.

However, the most controversial of these cuts were shelved after it was announced on Wednesday that the Department of Finance had written to the Department of Health authorising it to plan on the basis of an additional £40million being available in the financial year.

A protest was held outside the venue prior to the meeting with been numerous protests having been held against the proposed cuts across the Western Trust area in recent weeks.

There were heated scenes at a public meeting held at the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry on September 26, where a protest was held outside the building prior to the meeting.

DUP Foyle MLA Gary Middleton and his party colleague Alderman Hilary McClintock claimed they left for their own safety and had to be escorted off the premises after members of the public heckled they attempted to deliver a presentation about the cuts.

At last Friday's meeting the Trust board gave their approval for £3.1m of what they termed 'low impact' savings.

These include the Trust applying what it described as ‘significant additional constraints’ to goods and services budgets for a total savings £740,000.

This will involve reducing the usage of a range of external service providers, and put in place a range of controls on limiting expenditure.

The Trust will also apply ‘significant additional vacancy controls’ in administration, corporate and support services for a total saving of £510,000.

This proposal refers to further constraint on pay budgets, including vacancy control across a range of support services, including cleaning, medical records, clinical coding and estates services. Staff will be deployed to cover gaps on rotas/vacancies and will increase the hourly rate for paid carparking at its three hospital sites within a new tiered charging scheme and revisit revenue schemes to secure savings where possible.

The Trust said that approximately 70 per cent of its carparking spaces are currently free of charge and will remain so.

At the outset of the meeting, Acting Chairman Niall Birththistle said that he 'regretted the anxiety caused to the public' by the proposed savings, adding that the 'financial pressures on the whole system remains'.

The Chief Executive of the Trust, Dr Anne Kilgallen said that the savings plan was a 'short-term solution. She told the meeting that 'real transformation' was needed as the financial position of the trust would be 'unworkable' with the forecasted budgets for the next few years.

At the meeting over 20 people were given the opportunity to speak from a wide range of groups. Speakers included politicians, protest groups, union reps and a local General Practitioner (GP).

Retired nurse Martin Gallagher told the meeting that he had worked in the health service all his life and was not prepared to see it 'go into the gutter'.

He asked the Trust board to stop 'attacking' older people when cuts were needed.

'Stop the Cuts' campaigner and People Before Profit activist Shaun Harkin told the board he was 'prepared to be arrested' to prevent the health cuts.

Meanwhile, Waterside GP Nicola Heron urged the trust board to 'work with' the protestors and those who spoke at the meeting.

She said that people were relying on the board to 'just say no' for them.

Mrs Heron told the meeting that she had been a GP for 22-years and had the situation with waiting lists had never been worse.

She said the current situation was not acceptable.

Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan called for the restoration of the Assembly to combat the cuts and warned the trust board that they may face a judicial review for the manner in which they handled the public consultation.

While the Trust board were outlining the response to the public consultation they were interrupted by angry members of the public gallery who heckled the board before leaving the meeting.

Before the board accepted the proposals, Joe Campbell, a Non-Executive Director with the board, said that he regretted that older and vulnerable people were affected by the savings plan.

He said that the reprieve from the Department of Health came 'late in the day' and that 'we could have avoided all of this'.

Mr Campbell noted that the £3m in savings needed had 'already been taken' from the trust and that the proposals would not put patients at risk.

He said it was 'not the end of the road' and that the board should talk the strong feelings expressed at the meeting back to the Department.

Acting Chairman Niall Birththistle said that Mr Campbell's comments 'echoed the feelings' of the entire board.

Concluding the meeting Dr George McIllroy said that although it was 'cold comfort, if the the £40m in extra funds hadn't become apparent this board would not have been passing the savings plan imposed upon us'.

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