LVH emergency move ‘hit me very personally’ says ex-minister Poots

Newly discharged from his erstwhile duties, Mr Poots said too he had no more intention of bowing out of politics than he had of shying away from controversy.

“I still have something to say,” he declared, “and I won’t shirk away from saying the things I believe and making known the views of the people I represent.”

As Health Minister, a role his wife was reluctant he take on, he revealed, the Lagan Valley MLA held a portfolio that impacted on every person in Northern Ireland, weighing in with a budget in excess of £4.5billion and a workforce of 70,000 employees. Dismissing any notion of detached and dispassionate administration, Mr Poots insisted it was a weight he felt to the last ounce.

“Certainly in terms of the jobs I’ve done,” he said, “it was the most important job politically and the second most important job of my lifetime; the most important is my family.

“I am hugely appreciative of the support I got from my family, in particular my wife, who has worked in the health service all of her life and was very reluctant that I would take on the job in the first instance.”

The scale of the task, Mr Poots admitted, was completely different from anything he could have expected.

Mindful of having benefited from the “excellent” support of “quality” staff, he looked back on his three and a half years in post, if not with a sense of completion, certainly with a sense of some satisfaction.

“The job certainly isn’t complete,” he said, “but I think that, politically, you would need two Assembly terms with that portfolio to really get on top of it.”

That said, there was much worthy of note, including the introduction of 24/7 ‘cath’ (catheterization) labs, the cardiac resuscitation strategy, radiotherapy at Altnagelvin Hospital and the addition of some six per cent more nurses, along with 15 per cent more consultants and 13 per cent allied health professionals.

“If I ask myself did I leave it better than I found it, there’s a lot of evidence that it is,” said Mr Poots of local healthcare, bearing in mind that all the achievements were set against a backdrop of making £492 million in savings across three years.

On the downside, the former minister said one of his low points came very early in the job, when the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust reduced the hours at Lisburn’s Lagan Valley Hospital Emergency Department.

“That hit me very personally,” he said. “It’s my local hospital, and many people think I let them down on that issue, but the circumstances were completely out of my control.”

Recalling some “massively stressful” situations, none qualified moreso, he said, than meeting and offering his personal support to the grieving families of four children who died during a pseudomonis outbreak.

“It was the most difficult day of my time in office,” he said, “talking to four families who had lost their babies. It was desperately, desperately hard.

“As a parent and a human being you can only be touched, and empathise with the families, and of course any stress or trauma I suffered was only tiny compared to theirs.”

Of the chief challenges facing his successor as Health Minister, he said: “The biggest nut to crack is care of the elderly, with two-thirds of hospital beds occupied by elderly patients.

“It’s really good news that people are living longer and Transforming Your Care is about ensuring we can support many of those people in home environments.” In conceding a balance had to be struck to offset potential isolation among elderly people living at home, on another topic Mr Poots likewise conceded there was room for improvement in terms of access to GPs if “one of the biggest problems in the health service” - namely people abusing the emergency system - was also to be addressed.

On the one hand, he said, people presenting at busy emergency departments with minor ailments was “hugely detrimental”, while on the other it was a challenge to fill GP positions against a backdrop of ever increasing workloads and early retirement.

As to his own future, Mr Poots revealed he was working to a rudimentary map ahead of the next elections.

“A massive responsibility has been lifted off my shoulders,” he said, “so I’m pretty relaxed at the minute. I’m going to enjoy being an Assembly member for the next year and a half; I’m going to be active in the Asssembly and active on the ground.

“The next task then will be to get re-elected and who knows what will follow that?”