RCN concern at swine flu funding

Published: 07 July 2009

Speaking in response to the news that the Northern Ireland Executive has declined to provide the £55 million funding identified by the DHSSPS as necessary to tackle the swine flu pandemic in Northern Ireland, Royal College of Nursing [RCN] Northern Ireland Director Janice Smyth said:

"We are greatly concerned to hear that the Health Minister has not been allocated the funding identified by his Department as necessary to help cope with the potentially devastating consequences of the swine flu pandemic here in Northern Ireland. This is the most significant threat to public health for decades and it is unacceptable that efforts to care for the vulnerable people who are most at risk from swine flu are being constrained by the apparent refusal of the Executive to take this issue seriously."

"The Northern Ireland Executive now needs to clarify as a matter of urgency how it plans to fund the tackling of the swine flu pandemic. Those local politicians who failed to support this proposed allocation must be accountable for their decision to the communities they serve. The health service in Northern Ireland can not cope with these continuing financial constraints whilst nurses, doctors and other health service workers strive to provide patient care under increasingly impossible circumstances."