politics of health...

so, i was at a very interesting meeting today organised by the chambre public affairs with a health spokesperson from all but one of the main political parties in northern ireland. it was really to talk about what their priorities in relation to health would be if there actually is a restored assembly after the march elections and also to give us (from various organisations) the opportunity to ask questions...
i was there with the csp representing all those physio students who know that there's a huge issue of physio graduate unemployment at a junior physio level all over the uk...
i asked my question (emphasising that it costs the NI taxpayer £35,000 to train me and that 7/10 physio graduates from UUJ last yr are still without a job..) "can i have a commitment that you will use whatever influence you have both now and in a restored assembly to resolve this issue of graduate unemployment as a matter of urgency... etc..."
to be honest, their answers were all so vague which is probably down to the fact that they are politicans and that they are answering/making commitments hypothetically as they're not actually in a running government at present! so while they agreed that it was an important issue, i'm not sure they will have an opportunity to do anything about it. the health minister in a new government will definitely have their hands full (see this article) so not sure they will care too much about the issue i wanted addressed. however, it definitely made me think that it's these kind of issues that we need the assembly for and the sooner the better. it'll be interesting to see what the next few weeks brings in relation to manifestos and whether there's a chance of anything going ahead...(maybe get some discussion going on the whole election issue here). at least today they were talking about something they could all agree on for once: the priority that healthcare should have in our society.