Act now or ailing service will collapse

NORTHERN Ireland is not a good place to suffer a serious illness. The stark reality is that you could die before you ever discover if your suspicion of what ails you is confirmed.

Our shocking, indeed shaming, story today reveals that some people have to wait up to six years for a first appointment with a hospital specialist. They then require diagnostic tests or procedures and finally are placed on another waiting list for inpatient treatment. That could take another four years.

That may be at the top end of the scale but it is inexcusable that anyone should have to wait that long for treatment for serious illnesses, often of a painful and debilitating nature.

Any excuses that the coronavirus pandemic is to blame should not be heeded. This newspaper has year after year reported on lengthening waiting lists and on learned reports on how the issue can be tackled.

The latest was the Bengoa report in 2016 — ironically around the time some of those on today’s waiting lists were first referred for a hospital appointment.

It was widely welcomed and the then Health Minister, now Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’neill outlined a 10-year vision for reform of the NHS in the province along the lines outlined in the report. She said the Executive had bought into the idea, but little has been done in the meantime.

The job of Health Minister is now in the hands of Robin Swann, a man we have commended for his handling of the pandemic and who, it is clear to everyone, has empathy with those waiting long periods for treatment.

The pandemic has taken up most of his time and energies but as the light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter he must now become a champion for the NHS in Northern Ireland. His immediate task in the wake of the pandemic will be to secure funding to transform the service.

Bengoa entitled his report Systems not Structures.

Greater emphasis needs to be given to primary and social care and prevention of ill-health, freeing up the hugely expensive acute care for those patients with the most complex and urgent illnesses.

Health care does not come cheap. In 2016 health cost £4.6bn or 46% of the entire Northern Ireland block grant. Bengoa predicted that unless urgent action was taken that would rise to an unsustainable £9bn by 2026/7.

The figures in our report today show we are heading towards the point of collapse that Bengoa warned about. The Executive must act urgently.