Rise of ȷust 0.5% in Northern Ireland’s health budget will hit services hard

Despite record waiting lists and outcry from staff, the health service in Northern Ireland will have to make do with a miniscule increase in funding this financial year, after Chris Heaton-Harris, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, unveiled a controversial new budget for the region.While the executive at Stormont is out of action owing to a boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Heaton-Harris announced that the Department of Health budget would be £7.3bn for the coming year, an increase of just 0.5% on last year and far below what experts say is necessary. “I think everyone feels that it’s just nowhere near enough,” said Aidan O’Neill, a consultant rheumatologist in Antrim.Northern Ireland’s waiting lists have long been the worst in the UK.1 Latest figures showed that they have lengthened even further. The number of patients who had to wait 12 hours or more in an emergency department rose by…
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