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5.52 pm
Mr. A. Cecil Walker (Belfast, North): The appropriation order debate gives us the opportunity to bring to the notice of the House various factors in relation to the provision of funds that are of special concern. It also allows us to express our views on matters that directly relate to our constituencies, under the terms of the order.
As I have stated on many previous occasions, north-west Belfast is an area of severe material deprivation. In addition, my constituency has suffered more murders and civil unrest than any other part of Northern Ireland over the past 27 years. It has a disproportionate number of elderly people, many of whom live in isolation, poverty and fear. They are honest, decent people who have contributed over the years to maintaining normality in their communities.
In supporting the remarks of the hon. Member for Barnsley, Central (Mr. Illsley), and of my right hon. Friend the Member for Lagan Valley (Sir J. Molyneaux), I must say that the health and social services available to my elderly constituents have declined steadily in recent years. This year, there has an overall 3 per cent. reduction in the health service budgets, a move that I and my colleagues deplore.
To add insult to injury, the Eastern health and social services board, the purchaser of services for my area, has devised a formula for funding services for the elderly that has reduced services to them across north and west Belfast by a further £2.5 million. On the basis of a half-completed study by Sheffield university, the board has decided, in the interests of so-called equity, to transfer £2.5 million out of the most socially and economically deprived part of Northern Ireland. It has done so on the basis of a formula that does not recognise that elderly people are affected by deprivation. That, in turn, affects their needs for health and social care.
In real terms, the cuts mean the closure of three elderly persons' homes in my constituency, an area where there is little private care; a 5,000 hour a week reduction in home help services, which are a lifeline to many elderly constituents; and the loss to the local community of 120 jobs. The difference between maintaining many elderly people in their own homes through a modest service and maintaining them elsewhere is reflected in misery, human suffering and neglect. The Government are supposed to be targeting social needs in north-west Belfast and providing additional programmes to give it a chance to catch up. The Industrial Development Board is striving, with some success, to bring jobs into my constituency and that of my colleague the hon. Member for Belfast, West(Dr. Hendron) .
What is the Eastern health and social services board playing at? How can it present the transfer of resources as equitable? How can it argue that social deprivation
does not affect the elderly and infirm? Why has it acted on the basis of a half-completed study, without bothering to wait for the final outcome, when the results are such a kick in the teeth to my constituents, and fly in the face of the Government's policies, which aim to regenerate the most deprived areas of Belfast, Protestant and Catholic alike?
I pay tribute to the Minister for giving the hon. Member for Belfast, West and me a sympathetic hearing when we recently talked to him about our concerns for the elderly in our constituencies. However, I say with all respect, we need more than sympathy. We need a complete reappraisal of the conditions that affect the elderly in north and west Belfast. Research shows that people in disfranchised groups suffer more ill-health and die younger but are also less likely to receive, or benefit from, health and social care. For the elderly population, the dilemma is even more acute because the cost of health care services rises dramatically with age. Hence, the dominant factors in allocating services to this group have been the numbers of the elderly and their age distribution, which is normally broken into the age groups of 65 to 74, 75 to 84 and 85-plus.
However, the people of deprived areas are unlikely to live as long as the general population. The health status of the surviving elderly in such areas may be worse than that of their counterparts elsewhere. Thus, the health needs of the 65-to-74 age group in deprived areas may be similar to those of the 75-to-84 group in a more affluent area. That is the situation that pertains to north and west Belfast. We have more chronically ill elderly, across the age spectrum, than any other part of the Province. We need extra resources to cater for their needs, not fewer.
The Minister knows how concerned I am about the cuts in orthopaedic surgery. It is inconceivable that elderly people who have subscribed all their lives to their country should be sentenced to pain and suffering, some of them for the rest of their lives, because of monetary considerations. It is an indictment of the Government for them to say that, because joint replacement is not life-threatening, it should be the subject of major financial savings. It is envisaged that the reduction in orthopaedic surgery will mean ward and theatre closures and job cuts. That will be another traumatic blow for a long-suffering elderly population.
On housing, I am pleased that the Government have recognised the efforts of the Housing Executive in contributing to meeting the housing needs of the Province by strengthening its strategic role. The transfer of the Department of the Environment housing functions in relation to housing associations and the private rented sector will facilitate a more comprehensive approach across all types of housing tenure.
In north and west Belfast, some housing factors are different for different religious sections of the population. In general, Catholics suffer more from overcrowding whereas Protestants suffer more from older housing. For both communities, housing remains a significant factor for their regeneration. Issues such as expansion of housing capacity, upgrading of older housing and improving tenure mix remain most important for many residents.
I am extremely concerned about the difficulties and delays associated with the Housing Executive grants process. Delays of up to three years are just not acceptable, especially when applicants are living in
unacceptable conditions. I should like to see more of the executive's budget directed to dealing with the backlog, in the interests of the whole housing stock.
Mr. Clifford Forsythe (South Antrim):
Is my hon. Friend not also concerned that handicapped people for whom occupational therapists have recommended certain things are kept waiting, sometimes for years?
Mr. Walker:
I am pleased that my colleague has brought that subject up. We are very much aware, particularly in north Belfast, but throughout the Province, of the terrible delays in providing for elderly people the facilities that they need to give them a meaningful life. I thank my colleague for bringing that to the notice of the Minister at this stage.
I am also critical of the Housing Executive's redevelopment programme. Decisions are taken to redevelop an area without adequate provision for those who are displaced, especially those who wish to live in the immediate area. I am also concerned about the criteria for valuing properties in redevelopment areas. The basic offer often does not reflect the true value of the property, when compared to other properties in the immediate area. I cite an area in Crumlin road--Rosewood, Yarrow and Albertville drive--where excellent three-storey brick houses have been incorporated into a redevelopment scheme. The houses are mostly owned by elderly occupiers who do not wish to leave their home, where they have lived for most of their lives. The houses have been vested. There is no public sector housing in the area suitable for them. They have been offered less than half of what it will take to purchase a house of less than half the size, where their furniture will just not fit. To top it all, the executive is taking up to £15 per week in rent to allow those elderly people to live in their own homes.
Quite a number of elderly people, some of whom are infirm, will not be able to cope with the trauma of moving home at their age. They will either have to stay in their houses, thereby holding up redevelopment, or move to residential care, where their assets, including their homes, will be required to keep them. There should be some discretion within housing management to cater for situations in which residents live in their own homes after vesting. They should not be subject to rent. The property should not come under executive ownership until the value of the house has been fixed and paid. Then, and only then, should rent be demanded.
I welcome the introduction of the order on industrial pollution control. North and west Belfast citizens suffered much in the past as a result of serious and life-shortening pollution emanating from a mill environment. There was a serious lack of attention to any form of pollution control in such circumstances. Health and safety factors were largely ignored in the continuing quest for increased production, to the detriment of the health of the community.
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