Sinn Féin MP and former head of the Royal College of Nursing, Pat Cullen says that the current status quo of two separate health services on the island of Ireland “makes no sense”.
The MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone was speaking ahead of chairing a rural healthcare event in Enniskillen on Wednesday as part of Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland.
The potential benefits of further co-operation between the healthcare systems north and south of the border have become a hot topic, after British Medical Association chief Alan Stout called for an “all-Ireland GP service” based on the Republic’s medical card system last week.
The comments came after a conference of GPs heard from the Irish Medical Organisation’s Dr Maitiú Ó Faoláin tell how patient outcomes and GP retention had improved in the south in recent years.
As well as more than four decades of experience working in the healthcare system, representing a border area has left former nurse Cullen in no doubt of how health services could be transformed.
“There’s no part of health services we couldn’t look at from an all-Ireland perspective, that would benefit patients primarily,” the MP told The Irish News.
“We cannot continue to work as two separate healthcare services for a population of seven million. It makes no sense to have two separate health services on an island of this size.
“This isn’t about stitching two failed services together, but looking at what’s the best in both and bringing those together.”
Losing staff from border areas who go to work in the southern health system is “compounding” problems with the north’s hospitals and GP practices, according to the Sinn Féin MP.
“It’s the discussion every day that I have every day with constituents in the office, it’s most of the queries I get in, about 70% of the issues that are raised with me are definitely health related.
“It’s not just the hospitals, it’s primary care as well. GP services, struggling to replace people that are retiring or moving on.
“We are losing GPS to the south of Ireland, I was only talking to one two nights ago about her move.
“They have got workforce pressures, but it isn’t comparable at all.
“They are moving to places where they can come home and put their head on a pillow and have a sleep, without worrying about leaving care undone and all of the other issues of a service that we all know is in a crisis.”
Last week the story of a Fermanagh resident being treated with Stage 4 cancer lying on the floor of Altnagelvin Hospital was “shocking” for Ms Cullen.
“It was absolutely shocking. It was shocking for the patient and their family, no patient in a first world country should be cared for on a floor.
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“I also thought about those nurses, that would have wrecked them and that just symbolises the pressure those people are under and the pressure our constituents and communities are being put under.
“We need to find other solutions, because keeping on doing what we’ve always done isn’t going to get us different results.”
The South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen has been the subject of a campaign to restore emergency general surgery, after it was withdrawn by the Western Trust due to staffing issues in 2022.
The former nurse says the handling of the removal of the service has led to a loss of confidence in health bosses from people in her constituency, but that she is willing to give them a “second chance”.
“How they managed the consultation and the overall management of the withdrawal of emergency general surgery has been anything but good.
“It has led to people in Fermanagh losing confidence in the Trust leadership. It has led to a high level of anxiety and fear in the population there and has impacted significantly on the morale of front line staff.”
Asked whether she herself has confidence in the health trust, Ms Cullen says: “The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.”
“I’m a great believer in people having to have a second chance and learning from their mistakes and that’s what I’m hearing from the Trust leadership.
“That’s where my focus is, not concerning myself with whether I’ve got confidence in them. My confidence will be in the leadership when they start to deliver for the people of Fermanagh and west Tyrone.”