Mike Nesbitt, Northern Ireland’s health minister, has said that addressing health inequalities must be at the heart of any future health reforms, as he outlined what the government has planned for the next six months.
The Northern Irish Government has announced that Professor Rafael Bengoa, the chair of the panel behind 2016’s Systems, not structures — Changing health and social care report, will return to the country to “reboot” the health reform debate.
Nesbitt has insisted that the move is not about “yet another” health review but rather “about finding the best ways to accelerate the process of change.” Prof Bengoa is expected to help assess the work that has already been done or is already underway and identify next steps.
This work will be informed by two documents: the first being the publication of a proposal for hospital reconfiguration for public consultation this summer. A central theme of the Towards a Hospital Network paper will be the idea that although each hospital has a role to play, not every hospital can provide every service.
“This requires a shift from viewing individual hospitals as discrete units to embracing the idea of a network of interdependent hospitals,” according to Nesbitt.
The second document will come in the form of a three-year strategic plan for health and social care, covering the remainder of the current assembly mandate. This will be launched in the autumn and centre around three main themes — stabilisation, reform, and delivery.
Stabilisation and political alignment is what the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care called for in the aftermath of Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide victory in the general election.
“Addressing health inequalities must be at the heart of health reform and a priority across all parts of government,” said Northern Ireland’s health minister.
“Based on data from England, it is estimated that health inequalities cost Northern Ireland up to £1.7bn every year including health costs, lost productivity, economic inactivity, poor educational outcomes.”
The devolved government in Northern Ireland is also looking to align its public health legislation through a new Public Health Bill that could replace the Public Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.
Mike Nesbitt provided an update on some of the public health work being done, as the first phase of the Live Better programme has also begun — the country’s targeted health support initiative that will strike at the heart of the communities that need it most. Areas covered will include:
- increasing uptake of health screening and vaccination;
- mental health and emotional wellbeing support;
- blood pressure and cholesterol checks;
- building health literacy;
- improving social connections;
- providing nutritional advice; and
- providing opportunities to be more physically active.
The specific programmes that will be delivered under the initiative are still in development, according to Nesbitt, but he has confirmed the community and voluntary sector will play a vital role and the scheme will kick off in the autumn across two locations.
Other moves being made in Northern Ireland include a ground-breaking partnership between the University of Oxford and Health and Social Care Research and Development Division. Nesbitt described the collaboration as a “significant step forward” in the efforts to tackle health inequalities in the country.
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