Poots 'wins' online unpopularity poll

By on

2013 has ended in further embarrassment for Health Minister Edwin Poots after he was voted Citizen Under Nationalist Threat of the year in an online poll organised by Belfast satirical bloggers L.A.D.

The independent poll attracted over 2,000 votes in a 24 hour period and Poots won with a landslide 35% of the vote.

The final results were:

  1. Edwin Poots 35% (789)
  2. Willie Frazer 16% (365)
  3. Dissident Republicans 12% (263)
  4. Ruth Patterson 11% (240)
  5. David Vance 5% (115)
  6. Gerry Adams 5% (107)
  7. 'So it is Sam' 4% (99)
  8. Gregory Campbell 4% (86)
  9. Winkie Irvine 3% (67)
  10. Nigel Dodds 3% (58)
  11. 'Dodgy Dowson' 2% (35)
  12. 'Rab – The Dangerous Man' 1% (25)

“The results prove that despite the ongoing controversy regarding flegs, parades and the past, what matters most to the public are real issues,” a spokesperson for the group said. “In 2014 we will focus more on issues such as health, employment and primarily education; things that affect people on a daily basis”.

2013 was a year in which:

  • A court ruled that Poots acted unlawfully over the failure to consider a senior trade unionist who had applied for a post on the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC).
  • Belfast High Court ruled the minister had breached Stormont's ministerial code by failing to take the issue of gay men giving blood before the Executive.
  • The UK Supreme Court rejected Poots' attempt to overturn a court ruling in favour of gay adoption.
  • An online petition calling “on the Northern Ireland Assembly to seek the resignation of Edwin Poots, or for his removal from his post as Health Minister and thus bring to an end his disgraceful waste of public money in pursuit of a personal agenda” has so far attracted 12,265 signatures and will be handed over to the Assembly this month.

Mr. Poots was unavailable for comment.

Poots to be presented with award by a 'representative' of LAD

Poll Result - the poll closed at midnight on December 31st 2013


3 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

#GivePootsTheBoot

By on

So Poots, eh?
#GivePootsTheBoot


Let's examine the evidence that led him to spunk one hundred thousand pounds of our money in a bid to make us healthier.

Background: In 1983, fear of a full-blown AIDS epidemic resulted in a panicked UK health authority banning all MSM (men who have sex with men) blood donations. This ban lasted almost 30 years, and was finally lifted in 2011 following detailed and exhaustive scientific studies into the risk posed by MSM blood donations. England, Scotland, and Wales all accept MSM blood donations following a 12 month deferral after the initial consultation. This 12 month period is a built-in safeguard to ensure that any early-stage blood-borne viruses not initially detected are picked up on screening one year later. HIV, for instance, has a seroconversion time of 2 to 12 weeks, therefore a 12 month deferral is a more than adequate buffer zone 
(1). 

Were a 12 month deferral to be introduced here, theoretical models from the UK (2), USA (3) and Canada (4) estimate that there would be a very slight increase in the risk of transmitting a blood-borne infection through transfusion of donated blood. For instance, the UK study calculates the risk to increase from 1 in 4,410,000 to 1 in 4,380,000 following introduction of the 12 month deferral of MSM.

So there's an (albeit tiny, not statistically significant) increase in risk?

Well, no. 

Two further things must be considered.

Firstly, blood screening technology has improved exponentially in the past few years, and new techniques should reduce the risk levels, and may also negate any difference in risk levels between the pre- and post-deferral groups.

Secondly, a clinical study in Australia (4) has contradicted the findings of the UK, USA, and Canadian theoretical models. Blood donation data taken in Australia (a country with similar HIV infection rates to the UK) 5 years before and after the implementation of a 12 month deferral by the Australian government, showed that despite a 20% increase in donations following the introduction of deferral legislation, the total HIV detections were exactly the same (and in real terms, a rate reduction).

So what's Poots' problem? 

Maybe it's that Northern Ireland doesn't need any more blood? 

He certainly seemed to think so in October 2011 when he told a Commons health committee meeting (5) 

"...Northern Ireland is largely self sufficient in blood. It is exceptional for us to receive blood from outside sources”

Either Poots was wilfully misleading Parliament, or he was unaware what was going on within his own department. For instance, only three months before his committee appearance Poots was urging people to give blood.

 “In Northern Ireland, around 500 patients need life saving blood each week. To ensure an adequate supply to our hospitals, we need 300 people to give blood every day. The demand for blood is increasing all the time and currently only 6% of Northern Ireland’s eligible population gives blood. That means 94% of the population do not donate. I would urge everyone eligible across the province to consider becoming a donor." 

 "Ensuring there are sufficient levels of blood at all times is key to the safety of patients in Northern Ireland" as long as it fits within my personal prejudices, he didn't add.(6)
Edwin Poots
 By June 2012 Northern Ireland's "self-sufficiency" myth was completely shattered when Sue Ramsey, the Stormont Health Committee chairwoman, told the assembly "We are crying out for blood donation... we have had to bring in blood from England, Scotland and Wales because we need it" (7) What makes things even more interesting is that this imported blood is now the very same MSM blood that Poots is spending several nurses' salaries in an attempt to avoid accepting from Northern Irish gay men. 

So in summary.

1) Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of its safety, Poots refuses to accept Northern Irish MSM blood donations. 
2) In a time of austerity and NHS cutbacks, he is spending thousands of pounds of tax-payers' money to fight blood donation legislation implemented by the British government. 
3) Despite telling parliament that Northern Ireland is "largely self sufficient in blood", his department is importing blood, ironically including that of MSM donors, from the rest of the UK.

In light of the scientific evidence we have just one question for Poots: Are you ignoring the advice of experts simply because you're a homophobe?

Please sign the online petition here.




Sources:
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216109/dh_129909.pdf 
2 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1423-0410.2011.01491.x/abstract 
3 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2009.02124.x/full 
4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12519427?dopt=Abstract 
5 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2010.02793.x/abstract 
6 Hansard of the DHSSPS Committee meeting (26/10/11) 
7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18476313


4 comments
Labels: , , , , , , ,