In so many interviews we are often asked, surely it would be better to have one specialised A&E in Belfast as compared to three? The simple answer to this would be “yes” …… however we cannot stop there, as Belfast cannot be compared to anywhere else on the mainland. No other part of the mainland has the same history that we have. Segregation is as strong to day as it has ever been and each area lays claim on their services and marks them as “their own”. As obscure as it may seem, many people have a fear of entering areas that are “not their own”, they feel in a minority, they are not familiar with the area, they feel uneasy with emblems that mark each area’s individuality and to those who grew up during the troubles, were indoctrinated to stay within their own areas where they would feel safe. I am not saying that this thinking is normal, far from it!! However this is the reality of Belfast and many other parts of Northern Ireland. Community groups and other forums down through the years, have received billions of funding from many sources including the EU, and they are trying extremely hard to break down these barriers and with total respect, they are very successful in what they do, but trouble can break out so easily, and frustratingly it is very often the case of 1 step forward and 2 steps back for these workers and their efforts. There will always be an ever watchful suspicion of one group against the other. There is a constant tally of who gets what, how many of each of the religions are arrested, how did they get the funding for that? and so it continues. To withdraw services in an area, is seen as an attack on the people in that area. Sound ridiculous? Yes perhaps it does ….. but over 40 years of bloody history, abductions, shootings, murders, bombings leaves this legacy. Belfast is a maze of little streets, where navigation is second nature to the local residents, but put a stranger who perhaps only lives a mile away, into this same area, and throw a bomb scare into the mix, and there becomes, confusion and fear.
The Belfast Trust, appear to be oblivious to all of this history. They wish to push through a plan which years of effort from community groups and funding cannot achieve and send people into an area that they are not comfortable with. Add to this fear and discomfort the worry of a friend or relative within the A&E, and it is a mix which can only be rivaled with a semtex mix!!
To the Health Minister and the members of the Trust, I invite you to go into the area and get down amongst the grass roots and listen to the people, the end users of the system …… the people who own this system.
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