Assembly deal boost for NI health and social care

27 January 2020 Seamus Ward

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Staff on Agenda for Change pay scales took industrial action over December and early January, including strikes – a first for members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

Their main complaints were over the lack of pay parity with colleagues in England and staffing levels. With no executive in place for three years, civil servants at the Department of Health were unable to offer pay rises to meet staff expectations. One offer – which would have added a projected 3.1% to the pay bill – was rejected by health unions in December.

However, with the Assembly reinstated on 11 January, Robin Swann was installed as health minister in the new executive. Some £30m was made available from proposed future allocations to Northern Ireland to restore pay parity this year. Mr Swann quickly met with health unions, who subsequently suspended industrial action while they consulted with members on whether to accept the pay offer.

Later, the UK government agreed an additional £2bn financial package for the executive, which includes £200m to deliver pay parity immediately and over the next two financial years.

As part of the package, further financial support will be provided for a new medical school, while a £245m transformation fund will be shared between health, education and justice services.

New Decade, New ApproachThe deal to reinstate the Assembly – New decade, new approach – includes pledges to create an action plan on local waiting times (which are the longest in the UK) and to implement a series of reforms to transform health and social care.

A joint UK government/Northern Ireland executive board will oversee service transformation and keep healthcare delivery structures under review.

Mr Swann said: ‘Additional funding has now been secured. Pay parity with England can be restored. Our nurses and other great health and social care staff can come off the picket line, can get back to the jobs that they love and do so well.’

The RCN said the minister had committed to producing a costed implementation plan for safe staffing.

Pat Cullen, director of the RCN in Northern Ireland, said: ‘This dispute always focused not just on pay, but on ensuring that we have the right numbers of nurses in the right places, to provide the care and treatment required.’

 The Northern Ireland Audit Office said a new approach was needed as it found major and high-priority capital projects were failing to meet cost and timescale targets. Cumbersome governance and delivery structures hampered the delivery of value for money, it added.