ONLY YOU CAN STOP THE ROT
Only you can stop the rot!
With the news this week that Sperrin Lakeland management is brow-beating and misleading nursing staff at the hospital, it must finally be apparent to all that the anti-Tyrone agenda fostered by the management, and swallowed whole by the SLT Board, was always going to rob Omagh of an effective Hospital.
But that men in suits should use the weight of their authority to bully the heroes of the Omagh bomb, the heroes of thousands of calamities, the heroes of our community is simply not on. The community must commit itself to stand firm with the nursing staff at the hospital to prevent corporate bullying and the trade unions must now take a resolute stand on this issue.
The slaying of the 'County', was a betrayal in three acts. The first part of the game was to run the 'County' down so much that it looked like a lame duck. The second part was to join the two hospitals as 'The Sperrin Lakeland Hospital' one-hospital-two-sites, so that resources and services could easily be channelled away from Omagh to the Erne. The third part was to close wards and frighten off specialist staff; to paint a picture of the County Hospital as a wreck, insupportable and unsustainable. When all of that was done it was just a matter of having a quiescent Health Minister and watching all of that mischievous handiwork coming together.
Of course, it is a disgrace, and if the parties involved were honourable they might be forced to hang their heads in shame as they reflect on this community deprivation, but let's face it, neither the Minister nor the Trust has acted honourably in this whole debacle.
The ancients observed that water flows in the path of the least resistance, sadly, it would seem that Omagh was just that.
PROTEST IN BELFAST
A big hooray last year was not enough and could never have been enough for the protest was in Omagh and the Minister was in Belfast. If those twenty thousand brave hearts who turned out in Omagh last year had turned up at Stormont, had set up a Greenham Common style camp, using civil disobedience and their weight of numbers to bring 'the centre' to its senses, perhaps then the 'periphery' would not have been abandoned.
Maybe it is not top late yet. Perhaps instead of wasting time trying to convince the Minister, by consultations and studies, the entire populace of West Tyrone should simply arrive in Belfast and refuse to go home until Tyrone gets value for its taxes and its rates.
The case in favour for Omagh always towered above the case for siting the new hospital in Enniskillen but the Minister chose to ignore the evidence. If the Omagh case were presented in a Court of law the overwhelming weight of evidence would have carried the day but the determination of the Minister to ignore the obvious means that she will not allow herself to be persuaded by argument.
Therefore, the likelihood of further, more detailed, or new evidence changing the Minister's mind is considerably less than slight.
However, the off-handedness of the Minister could provoke a civil-rights reaction, and where eloquence and argument failed the warm bodies of a community deprived of a hospital may yet prevail. Who can stop the rot? Who can stop the deceit? Who can defend our brilliant nursing and medical staff? Only you, the people of West Tyrone.
With the news this week that Sperrin Lakeland management is brow-beating and misleading nursing staff at the hospital, it must finally be apparent to all that the anti-Tyrone agenda fostered by the management, and swallowed whole by the SLT Board, was always going to rob Omagh of an effective Hospital.
But that men in suits should use the weight of their authority to bully the heroes of the Omagh bomb, the heroes of thousands of calamities, the heroes of our community is simply not on. The community must commit itself to stand firm with the nursing staff at the hospital to prevent corporate bullying and the trade unions must now take a resolute stand on this issue.
The slaying of the 'County', was a betrayal in three acts. The first part of the game was to run the 'County' down so much that it looked like a lame duck. The second part was to join the two hospitals as 'The Sperrin Lakeland Hospital' one-hospital-two-sites, so that resources and services could easily be channelled away from Omagh to the Erne. The third part was to close wards and frighten off specialist staff; to paint a picture of the County Hospital as a wreck, insupportable and unsustainable. When all of that was done it was just a matter of having a quiescent Health Minister and watching all of that mischievous handiwork coming together.
Of course, it is a disgrace, and if the parties involved were honourable they might be forced to hang their heads in shame as they reflect on this community deprivation, but let's face it, neither the Minister nor the Trust has acted honourably in this whole debacle.
The ancients observed that water flows in the path of the least resistance, sadly, it would seem that Omagh was just that.
PROTEST IN BELFAST
A big hooray last year was not enough and could never have been enough for the protest was in Omagh and the Minister was in Belfast. If those twenty thousand brave hearts who turned out in Omagh last year had turned up at Stormont, had set up a Greenham Common style camp, using civil disobedience and their weight of numbers to bring 'the centre' to its senses, perhaps then the 'periphery' would not have been abandoned.
Maybe it is not top late yet. Perhaps instead of wasting time trying to convince the Minister, by consultations and studies, the entire populace of West Tyrone should simply arrive in Belfast and refuse to go home until Tyrone gets value for its taxes and its rates.
The case in favour for Omagh always towered above the case for siting the new hospital in Enniskillen but the Minister chose to ignore the evidence. If the Omagh case were presented in a Court of law the overwhelming weight of evidence would have carried the day but the determination of the Minister to ignore the obvious means that she will not allow herself to be persuaded by argument.
Therefore, the likelihood of further, more detailed, or new evidence changing the Minister's mind is considerably less than slight.
However, the off-handedness of the Minister could provoke a civil-rights reaction, and where eloquence and argument failed the warm bodies of a community deprived of a hospital may yet prevail. Who can stop the rot? Who can stop the deceit? Who can defend our brilliant nursing and medical staff? Only you, the people of West Tyrone.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1035
Published Date: 27-Jun-02
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