Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£15M CASH INJECTION FOR DOCS IN ULSTER
GPS get share of £100m health fund 25 schools in line for £60m building fund
DOCTORS in Northern Ireland are to get a £15million cash injection as part of the £100million Health and Social Care transformation fund.
The planned package of investments for 2018/19 includes enhancing primary care – which is largely provided by GP practices.
This will include some £5million for the roll-out of Multi Disciplinary Teams (MDTS) at GP practices.
These involve physiotherapists, mental health specialists and social workers operating alongside doctors and nurses to better meet the needs of the local population.
The roll-out of MDTS this year will cover two areas initially, each serving in the region of 100,000 people.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Developing MDTS at GP clinics represents health and social care transformation in action, helping to provide more care closer to people’s homes.
“This will have the added benefit of easing demand pressures on hospitals.
“It is hoped that success across the MDT pilot areas will lead to the initiative being extended to GP practices across the province in the years ahead.” Further investments include: £15million for workforce development in health and social care
Up to £30million for reforming community and hospital services, including for cancer, strokes, paediatrics, medicines and diabetes care and prevention. It will also help fund standalone day surgery units to tackle hospital waiting times
£5million will be invested in strengthening the voice of those who use and deliver health and social care services, improving quality across the system and investing in technology and innovation, and
£5million on building capacity in communities and prevention, including funding a new approach to working with parents and families to better support children in care.
It was recently announced that £30million of the £100million funding for 2018/19 will be targeted at reducing hospital waiting times. This is in line with the Bengoa and Delivering Together reports on transformation, which cited the need to address waiting times as a stabilisation measure.
The spokesman added: “This funding will allow up to a further 24,000 outpatient assessments and approximately 7,400 treatments to be carried out; along with 19,000 diagnostics to reduce the number of people presently waiting longer than 26 weeks.
“In addition, an estimated 24,000 Allied Health Professional assessments can be provided to reduce the current backlog of patients waiting longer than 13 weeks, mainly for physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
“Trusts have been tasked with deploying the funding to assess and treat as many clinically urgent patients as possible, and prioritise patients waiting the longest times.” TWENTY-FIVE Northern Ireland schools are in line for a major financial boost to help them cope with growing pupil numbers.
Up to £60million will be used to support capital projects that address urgent accommodation needs under the School Enhancement Programme.
Permanent Secretary Derek Baker said: “The purpose of the programme is to ensure that we provide the best possible education estate for our children and young people, within the budget that is available.
“With this in mind I have given approval to progress the first 25 projects through the business case, design and planning stages. These projects will attract a potential £60million investment which will help to improve and expand the existing facilities in the schools.
“Today’s announcement represents a first tranche of projects to be progressed from this call with the potential for further schools to be approved in the future. This is good news for the pupils, staff and wider communities of the schools.”
The programme was set up in 2012 – the latest call for projects was made in January 2017.