BMA(NI) response to RPA announcement

Feb 4 2008

Commenting on the Ministerial announcement today, 4 February 2008, on the Review of Public Administration, Dr Ailbe Beirne, Deputy Chairman of BMA(NI) said: "We are pleased to see the Minister continues to be committed to reform of the NHS here and we will be responding in full to the consultation, once it is in the public domain."

NI GP Chairman, Dr Brian Dunn, said: "We will be very interested to see what is planned for Local Commissioning Groups. GPs are committed to participating in these groups but they must be constructed to allow them to bring meaningful change to the delivery of health services to patients. GPs will study the Minister's proposals to assess whether that can be delivered.

"GPs, nurses and primary care professionals want the people of Northern Ireland to receive the highest quality of healthcare quickly, efficiently and safely. We will continue to work energetically together in order to achieve this aim."

Dr Colin Hamilton, Chairman of the BMA's Public Health Committee in NI, said: "It is essential Minister McGimpsey realises that some of the most important public health issues facing Northern Ireland today are obesity, alcoholism and smoking; also, the serious risk from infectious diseases, bird flu etc. There is currently a relatively small number of public health staff available to deal with these issues.

"Public health doctors have been living through a great deal of uncertainty due to the delay in implementing the RPA and this has resulted in diminished morale. We need to know, quickly, details of where these doctors will fit in to the new equation."