Kieran McCarthy MLA said: “I am deeply disappointed that Minister intends to press ahead with this project which will lead to the loss of 100 jobs in Newtownards and Downpatrick.
“There is huge opposition to these proposals. There was around 2,500 responses to the consultation on this and most did not support what the Health Minister wanted to do.
“There were a lot of responses that queried the cost benefit of these shared services but more importantly it will be extremely negative for those staff whose job will be moved to another part of Northern Ireland. Many of these staff are low paid workers with families who will find it hard to move.
“I am also annoyed that the four centres of excellences will be in each of Health Trust areas except the South Eastern which last week was described as one of the best Trusts in the UK.”
ENDS