Northern Ireland’s budget offers little hope for improving healthcare

On almost every indicator, Northern Ireland’s health and social care system performs worse than every other region in the UK.1 A decade of underfunding, policy dysfunction, and political cowardice has left the healthcare system in a parlous state. The restoration of power sharing in February 2024 brought hope that politicians would get on with the job of tackling the myriad challenges facing Northern Ireland. Being without a devolved government exacted a catastrophic toll on public services as it was not possible to implement any new legislation or agree budgets. Despite restoration of the government, the recently announced 2024/25 budget doesn’t offer promise for recovering health and social care in Northern Ireland and will likely mean further cuts.Securing a fiscal framework that can tackle current underfunding and provide a sustainable financial settlement is essential if a short term sticking plaster approach is to be avoided. But suggesting that our health and…
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