Health Minister Launches New Three-Year Strategic Plan

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has announced the launch of a new three-year strategic plan for health and social care across Northern Ireland.

Announcing the plan, which involves a wide range of initiatives based on three central themes - Stabilisation, Reform and Delivery – Minister Nesbitt said: "Since taking office, I have underlined the need to build hope for all those who deliver, use and rely on health and social care services.

"I believe this three-year plan will make a significant contribution by indicating my direction of travel to secure better outcomes for staff, patients, service users and the population at large.

"I am acutely aware of the intense pressures on staff and the serious shortfalls in provision across the system. Stabilisation was the only viable option for this year, given the budget and other resource and workforce restraints.

"The purpose of this plan, however, is not about what we cannot achieve - it is about improving the health and wellbeing of our population and making our health and social care services the best they can be. It is about hope and ambition.

"Of course, the pace of progress will be heavily influenced by future budget settlements and successful partnership working across the Executive. I believe that if we all work together, we can meaningfully improve population health, support people to live healthy lives and provide the conditions for services to thrive."

Details of the three-year strategic plan were provided in a statement to the Assembly by the Minister today. He emphasised to MLAs that his commitment to Stabilisation included securing a "good deal" on staff pay for 2024/25.

The newly published document should be read alongside the recently published framework 'Hospitals – Creating a Network for Better Outcomes which sets out the basis for decisions on reconfiguring hospital services. It also complements existing strategies, frameworks and reviews spanning health and social care provision including elective care, cancer care, mental health, urgent and emergency care, adult social care and community pharmacy. The three-year plan sets out a series of initiatives for to improve healthy living, primary care, hospital care, social care, productivity and patient safety, while tackling health inequalities. These include:

• Bringing forward a new Obesity Strategic Framework for Northern Ireland;

• Implementing the NI provisions in the UK Government s Tobacco and Vapes Bill;

• Bringing forward proposals for Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol;

• Embedding the new Live Better initiative on health inequalities;

• Putting in place a new lung screening programme and an expanded bowel screening programme;

• Challenging Health and Social Care Trusts to deliver 46,000 additional outpatient assessments and 11,000 additional treatments annually by 2027;

• Publishing a plan by April 2025 for the completion of the Multi-Disciplinary Team model for General Practice across all areas of Northern Ireland;

• Implementing new models for delivery of home (domiciliary) care services, learning disability services and children s social care services, as well as a regionally consistent contract for care home placements;

• Making the independent adult social care sector a Real Living Wage sector;

• Reforming neurology and stroke services with proposals for change to be the subject of public consultations;

• Reforming pathology services with the intention to establish a single management structure for all pathology and blood transfusion services;

• Strategic reviews on breast cancer and radiotherapy services, informing how these services should be delivered in the future;

• Strategic initiatives on quality and safety. This will include a consultation early in the New Year on our proposals to make the Serious Adverse Incident process fit for purpose. The Minister will also advance proposals for an organisational duty of candour as well as considering proposals for an individual duty of candour.  This will take into consideration the contents of the UK Government s proposed Hillsborough Bill, which may have far-reaching implications in this area. However, the Minister remains proactive and today has launched a public consultation on a new Being Open Framework, with a key aim of helping to empower organisations and staff to exercise candour and openness.