People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin has a U-turn by the Stormont Executive on hospital parking charges is
a slap in the face for health workers.
Said the Foyleside councillor: “The Stormont Executive U-turn on abolishing hospital parking charges is a slap in the face to our health workers and members of the public visiting sick relatives or attending an appointment.
“All the Stormont Executive parties tripped over themselves to initially back the demand and voted it through unanimously.
“This promise, like many other promises made by Executive parties, broke when legislation delaying hospital parking charges abolition was voted through its final stage in the Assembly this week.
“Health Minister Swan’s decision to propose stalling the removal of parking charges until 2026 is a disheartening setback.
“The initial legislation was a progressive step toward acknowledging the tireless efforts of our health workers and the cost of living pressures faced by households accessing hospitals.
“Stormont Executive parties have aided and abetted Tory privatisation and destruction of the NHS.
“Health provision in the North is a big capitalist enterprise, worth many hundreds of millions every year, with huge profits being sucked out of the health service.
“In the drive to turn health care into big business, NHS workers have been devalued, pay has been held down, staffing levels are unsafe and access to care has been severely limited.
“The hospital parking charge U-turn tells us yet again the Stormont Executive can’t be trusted to stand up for the NHS, for health workers, for patients and for everyone struggling with bills.
“The only way the Stormont government can be held accountable to commitments it makes and pushed back on its promotion of NHS privatisation is through robust people power resistance.”
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