Recent statements on the Health service by Workers Party South Belfast Representative Tony Dorrian
Executive parties must immediately meet the full costs of the Health Service pay award
27th Oct 2025
Workers Party South Belfast representative Tony Dorrian said it was ridiculous that health service staff in Northern Ireland have to take strike action to secure parity with their colleagues in other parts of the UK. He warned that NHS England are asking for an additional £3bn to meet the unexpected cost of the doctors strike, redundancy payments, and the Trump driven higher drugs costs. Do we really need to force a strike on our hard working committed staff, especially with the winter pressures adding to the costs. The Workers Party have been watching the situation across the United Kingdom have real concerns at developments there.
Hospital chiefs in England say that unless they receive the extra cash needed, they would have to cancel weekend and evening sessions of surgery, which gives patients who are stuck on the waiting list faster care. Mr Dorrian says this would be bad for patients, but it also begs the question, “why are we here in Northern Ireland sending patients to private providers” when we could arrange extra surgery sessions at weekends and evenings in our hospitals.
The Workers Party fully supports the National Health Service staff in their demand for pay parity and will join them on picket lines if necessary. But the key question has to be why should these committed workers have to strike in order to be treated fairly and get pay parity. The behaviour of the Executive who have broken their promise to ensure parity, is shameful, but there is still time for them to do the Right Thing and meet the full pay award, promises won’t work this time around, nor should they.
Chronic Corridor Care Problems in NI Hospitals
31st Oct 2025
Speaking at a party seminar on the health crisis, Tony Dorrian has said that patients suffering in corridors is not new to our healthcare system. It is a deplorable situation for staff and patients.
Mr Dorrian said the Workers Party in our response to the Better Hospitals Better Outcomes Consultation highlighted this issue as dangerous for patients and staff. It is impossible to give patients even the most basic level of care in this ongoing situation. It leaves patients feeling forgotten, confused, and vulnerable. They are deprived of the right to privacy, dignity, are overwhelmed by the constant pressure , that is the hallmark of our emergency departments. Because of our broken system of healthcare which has been in crisis for well over a decade.
Mr Dorrian added as we head into the winter pressures the situation will become more acute as the system gets overwhelmed by the bed shortages, staff shortages, lack of home care packages, and long queues of ambulances treating patients in car parks and ambulance bays. None of the plans we have heard so far will be sufficient to tackle this problem.
The Workers Party is calling on the Executive to implement a funded comprehensive fully funded program to alleviate these problems. Not by throwing money at the private sector, but by building capacity within our healthcare system. The private sector has no interest in dealing with our elderly vulnerable population who require ongoing care. Or those who have suffered years of neglect and health inequalities, who are more likely to become ill during the winter months.
It is now time to put the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Northern Ireland first, health care is about healing, not making a profit.
Ugly racism of '70s and '80s returns and NHS staff bear the brunt
by Tony Dorrian, 5th Nov 2025
Racist behaviour can never be acceptable especially when our international workers are keeping our health service and social care system running.
It is extremely concerning that racism has become commonplace in our society and our international workers are bearing the brunt of it. Incidents of verbal and physical abuse based on people’s skin colour now happens so often that i some circles it has become “socially acceptable to be racist” as Wes Streeting the health secretary recently said. The Workers Party has been at the forefront of supporting our international workers against abuse in communities where they live or in their workplaces. We must never allow racism to become “socially acceptable” in Northern Ireland. Racism can never be acceptable.
NHS staff are not immune to the rise of racism in our society, and racist rhetoric from our politicians has emboldened racists across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Our local politicians must stand up to the racism that is growing steadily across Northern Ireland.
There must be outright condemnation of racist behaviour and aggression, no excuses, justification, or talk of legitimate concerns. Every attempt to sanitise these actions are a dog whistle to those who stir up racial tensions at every opportunity.
We have a crisis in our health service which will become worse with the winter pressures. So we must send out a clear message that the right to free health care, does not give you the right to be racist, or aggressive, to the staff doing their best to deliver treatment in extremely difficult circumstances.