Extra £46m health funding still falls short

The Stormont Health minister Bairbre de Brún has said the extra £46 million being made available to tackle many of the major problems affecting the crisis-hit NHS is “not enough”.

Ms de Brún, whose department received more than £2.5 billion in the Budget, stressed the overall increase of £224 million over the current year was not enough to allow some key improvements to proceed.

“This amount, while welcome, is much less than I thought necessary,” the Minister said. “It cannot address all the current problems and is not enough to allow a number of important developments to go forward.”

The total resources available to the Department of Health next year will be £2,528 million, an increase of £224 million over the current year. Most of the resources however are needed to maintain existing services, leaving some £46 million to meet the many demands for improved levels of service.

Key areas set to benefit include:

• Investing in health promotion and improvement



• Developing primary care services



• Reducing the number of people waiting for community support, for admission to hospital and for discharge



• Improving key regional services – particularly cardiac surgery, renal and cancer services



• Further investment in children’s services



• Sustaining specialties at risk and increasing bed capacity in selected areas

Of the funding, £7.2 million of the allocated money is also set to benefit hospital services which the Minister said demanded “urgent attention".

“We need to develop our regional medical services, and we have to ensure the stability of the hospital system at local level. I am therefore making recurrently available to Boards £7.2m to pursue a range of targets, such as increasing cardiac surgery by 150, treating at least an extra 45 people thrice weekly on renal dialysis and improving cancer services.

“In addition, I am making a specific, ring-fenced addition of £2m annually to help address the unacceptable waiting list situation. I want to see Boards and Trusts create ‘protected’ facilities which will undertake elective procedures throughout the year and will be immune to disruption from winter pressures.”

“I have to make it clear that the resources at my disposal are not enough to ensure that people have ready access to a modern health service. When I welcomed the Budget announcement back in December, I pointed out that much more needs to be done, and that it will be a long haul to remedy the failures of the past. That remains my view, but I do believe that the Budget outcome is a start and will make a real difference. We must build on that in the year ahead.”

(AMcE)