Meeting will probe proposal to move jobs to Ballymena

SIR, — I would like to appeal to the general public, local business owners, councillors and our MLAs to attend the Shared Services Public Meeting on Thursday, January 19 from 7-8.30pm in the The Saint Patrick Centre, Downpatrick.

This meeting will give all of us an opportunity to raise our concerns on the impact of the relocations of 33 jobs from the Finance Department at the Downshire Hospital. I intend to get answers in relation to the large numbers of inaccuracies located within the consultation document.

Why for example when looking at criteria for suitable accommodation in conjunction with experienced trained staff were finance staff from Newtownards bundled in the numbers with the Belfast Trust? Was this an attempt to skew figures for the South Eastern Trust area to name one glaringly obvious attempt to ensure no centre of excellence would be located in Downpatrick or anywhere in close proximity.

I am very concerned about the number of inaccuracies within the document and hope that Business Services Transformation Programme (BSTP) representatives will answer questions when asked.

Perhaps BSTP representatives should not only appear before the people of Downpatrick but the Health Committee in Stormont to answer the issues that have been raised and will be raised yet again on Thursday night. I would encourage our MLAs who sit on the Health Committee to step up the plate and ensure the figures with in the document are relevant to the decisions being made.

I would encourage as many people as possible to attend the meeting and please respond to the consultation document which can be found on the Department of Health’s website. After all it’s a very good read, a great work of fiction and the authors of the document should surely be in with a good shout of winning this year’s Booker Prize.

Yours etc.,

ANNIE KILPATRICK,

Downpatrick.