Published Thursday, 17 February 2011
On Wednesday evening, Mr McGuinness said the executive "will not be lectured by the health minister", who described Stormont as a "dysfunctional executive" "religiously turning a deaf ear" to the health service crisis.
"Michael McGimpsey has continually used the health service in a cynical attempt to undermine the Executive; he was and remains a semi-detached member of these institutions", Mr McGuinness said.
"The community are rapidly losing confidence in his ability to run the department as it lurches from one crisis to another.
"The reality is that Michael McGimpsey has sat on numerous Executive papers, including cross-border papers, which would deliver significant efficiencies and savings. Instead he constantly looks to his Executive colleagues to continue and bail him out."
The deputy first minister was reacting angrily to comments made by the health minister on UTV Live.
"When I listen to Martin McGuinness, who is the second in command of the dysfunctional executive, attacking me when he knows very well that he personally has gone to the floor of the house to vote and take money out of the health service, it gives you an indication of where we are," Mr McGimpsey told UTV.
The health minister has been facing a steady flow of criticisms about the state of the health service in the region since Christmas, including x-ray backlogs and claims that patients' lives are put at risk.
This week, a senior consultant at Craigavon Area Hospital also alleged that patients there are being prioritised not by need but in alphabetical order - a claim that the Health and Social Care Board, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust and the minister have refuted.
"That is not the case", Mr McGimpsey told UTV. "Patients are treated according to priority but also treated according to chronology. The fact is that our waiting lists are extending. We don't have the capacity to deal with the demand that we have."
The minister said he could no longer do the job on the money that is provided.
"We don't have enough resources in the health service to do the job we're supposed to do. My brief is to provide cradle to grave health care free at the point of delivery. The executive is not providing enough funds to allow me to do that."
"Wherever I see issues that need to be addressed - and we have seen some recently - I move quickly and immediately to address this. It is rich listening to certain politicians who have been scaremongering as hard as they could for months claiming public confidence is being eroded."
Health Committee Chair Jim Wells has called on the minister to get hold of crucial matters in his Department.
"We've had major problems every day since Christmas. Michael McGimpsey has to take control, bring things back on an even keel before public confidence completely disappears", the DUP MLA told UTV.