Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Situation is urgent.. we need elected individuals to save hospitals
Doc’s plea to restore Stormont Suicide rate is on the rise again Care worker gran at end of her tether
NEXT Tuesday Northern Ireland reaches 589 days without a functioning government, passing Belgium’s record of 2010-2011. While the Guinness Book of Records says we don’t qualify for the official title as laws could be passed in Westminster, that’s not the point.
With problems in hospitals and social services, the Daily Mirror and the #Wedeservebetter campaign demand action is – and health professionals agree. involve streamlining the service and setting up dedicated centres for treatments – meaning closing existing departments, relocating people’s jobs, and potentially forcing patients to travel further for treatment.
The latest figures show more than 30% of patients are waiting more than a year for appointments for everything from hip operations and gall bladder removals to outpatient services.
In the Belfast Trust, the average wait for routine neurology appointments is 23 months.
Doctors say pressure on the workforce is another potential crisis.
The number of GP practices is currently 336, meaning the numbers per head of population are below 1950s levels.
And with pay and conditions lagging behind
England and Wales experts fear the problem will just get worse.
A change in indemnity rules could see doctors forced to pay out as much as double by next year – driving more away from the profession.
Dr Grainne Doran from the Royal College of GPS said: “There had been a 10% year on year increase in indemnity costs already but the removal of a cap on court awards has brought warnings of significant rises in costs .
“Changes to stop this happening are underway in England and Wales but even if our own Department of Health gets the paperwork finished by then, there will be no one here in Stormont to rubberstamp it:
BMA research found 70% of consultants said morale was either low or worse, with more than half feeling they had less control over their work since 2014.
Almost two thirds of doctors thought they would have better professional opportunities outside Northern Ireland, while 80% expect work to get worse.
In nursing, staff are facing restrictions above and beyond their colleagues in the rest of the UK. According to the most recent employment by the Royal College of Nursing, 40% of our nurses struggle to pay gas and electricity bills while 24% struggle to cover childcare costs.
Meanwhile Community Pharmacy NI has warned of a crisis in the network, with as many of 87% of members claiming they’re “very worried” about the future.
It also found 81% said the mess in funding is impacting on their health.
Just before the Executive collapsed, then Health Minister Michelle O’neill signed a commitment between the Department of Health, Social Care Board and CPNI to engage in negotiations to develop a new framework – but there has been no progress since. SUICIDE rates in Northern Ireland have soared again. Deaths rose to 306 last year, up from 297 in 2016-17.
Figures this year revealed more people had ended their lives since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 than were killed in the Troubles.
The number of people suffering from mental illness is between 25% to 44% higher than anywhere else in the UK.
One in three GPS’ appointments relate to mental health.
Spending on mental health remains low at 5.2% and campaigners say there is no effective strategy in place to deal with the problem.
Sara Boyce of human rights organisation Ppproject. org said: “The lack of urgency among civil servants in dealing with what is a mental health crisis is deeply alarming.” A GRAN of eight joined the #Wedeservebetter after being pushed to the brink by the lack of support from the healthcare system.
Anne’s older brother suffers from alzheimer’s, dementia and diabetes, and needs constant care.
Anne, 64, from Fermanagh, is up at 6am every day to look after him – and six weeks ago reached out to social workers to arrange respite.
She said: “My sisters and I share the work because my brother is the most innocent thing, and we want to care for him.
“I’ve never been interested in politics but we need these people to do their jobs. We need accountability, that’s why politicians have to do
their work.”