NORTHERN IRELAND
The Public Servant heading Northern Ireland’s health service says “something has to give” amid rising waiting lists and intense pressure on finances.
Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, Richard Pengelly (pictured) said health and social care services were moving into the most challenging period ever.
Speaking at a meeting of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, Mr Pengelley said patients and taxpayers deserved honesty, realism and transparency about the scale of the challenges.
“We are certainly in a defining period for health and social care in Northern Ireland,” Mr Pengelly said.
“Budgets remain under intense pressure.”
He said at the same time, demand for care continued to grow.
“Something has to give in that situation,” Mr Pengelly said.
“We can see it in our growing waiting lists and the impact these have on public confidence in the system.”
He said it’s also very evident in the rising tide of frustration within the workforce.
Mr Pengelly said his Department had to live within its budget.
“Despite our well-documented financial challenges, we are getting demands on an almost daily basis for additional spending,” he said.
“We simply don’t have the money to do everything we are being asked to do.”
Mr Pengelly said change was never easy in health but it was essential.
“I have no doubt there will be many difficult decisions ahead, both on reforming services and on budgetary choices,” he said.
Mr Pengelly said the decisions could not be ducked.
“If we did, then we really will be heading over the cliff edge into a full-blown crisis,” he said.
His comments came as the Province passed 1,000 days without a functioning Government following the collapse of the powersharing Executive in early 2017.
Belfast, 10 October 2019
