Northern Ireland chief calls for long-term funding

He told a Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee hearing on health funding priorities: ‘The sooner I get a budget for 2019/20, the sooner I can start to plan. When I do get a budget, the one thing I can say with certainty is: I will view it as insufficient in terms of all the financial challenges I face.’

In the absence of an assembly and executive, the Northern Ireland Office set the budget for the current year in March 2018.

Mr Pengelly continued: ‘I would not only welcome a budget for 2019/20; I would love a budget for the next two or three years to undertake that long-term planning. I think I could make bigger, more significant change in that context.’

Mr Pengelly acknowledged that break-even positions had been at the expense of waiting times, but clearing those lists would require additional funding and capacity.

In a Northern Ireland Audit Office report, comptroller and auditor general Kieran Donnelly said service transformation was required urgently.

‘The health and social care system, as currently configured, is simply unable to cope with the demands being placed on it,’ he said. ‘As a result, far too many patients endured unacceptably long waiting times for treatment.’

He continued: ‘My report makes the urgency of the reform agenda clear and emphasises the need for long-term financial planning in the health sector,’ he added.