NHS at 75: CPR call for the struggling Northern Ireland health service

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Mary Louise Connolly, BBC health correspondent Jul 5 2023 06:19 GMT

Updated 27 minutes ago

Image source, Getty Images

The Northern Ireland health system cannot expect its staff to “rush over and over again” to provide patient care and ensure their safety.

This is according to the head of the Northern Ireland Federation of Health and Social Care, which marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS.

Michael Bloomfield said the plan for long-term financing, political leadership and transformation has all been delayed.

He said tough choices – both here and in London – must soon be made.

“There’s a clear vision of what needs to happen, leaders across the health and social care system know what needs to happen – we just need political leadership to make sure that happens,” he told BBC News INI.

The 75th anniversary of the NHS is being celebrated across the UK, including in Stormont, with parties, afternoon teas and music.

On Wednesday night, some of Northern Ireland’s most iconic buildings, including the Parliament Buildings in Stormont and Belfast City Hall, will be lit up in blue.

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Stormont’s guest star will be six-year-old Dáíth MacGavann

Amid all the celebrations, there are mixed feelings about the current state and future of health and social care.

Rita Devlin, Principal of the Royal College of Nursing, described the idea of ​​no NHS as “unthinkable”.

“We need to make sure that the environment we ask nurses to work in is one that values ​​the work they do and pays them fairly and rewards them for what they do,” she said.

Other issues that need to be addressed, she added, are career paths, training and ensuring that “when a nurse wants to stay at the bedside, that is evaluated on an equal footing with nurses who want to work in the department.”

Analysis: The change needed for the NHS to continue to deliver

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about how much we love the NHS as it celebrates its 75th anniversary.

While the Northern Ireland system was created separately, it shares the same principles, including that it is free.

But has our romantic notion and love affair with the old lady diminished?

Given the shock surrounding waiting lists, workforce, finance, strikes and lack of leadership – if the NHS is to exist in another 75 years, in the year 2098, it requires real input.

As we have seen in Northern Ireland, the plan is simply not enough.

Image source, Getty Images

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The NHS has to reinvent itself to get to 100

Whether they are patients or employees, people are key to its success.

Patients, when appropriate, require appropriate intervention to prevent them from developing the disease in the first place. Physical activity, healthy eating and GP service are all essential.

A sustainable workforce requires appropriate hiring and policies that make it strong. It must be led and shaped from within and by those who know what is best.

Adequate pay is also important so that frontline workers feel valued and resilient.

None of the above would happen without an executive or Stormont’s leadership, including from within the health chests.

While we love the old ladies, if the NHS is to make 100 there are many who feel it should be allowed to reinvent itself and become a younger, more flexible model.

Frances O’Hagan, County Armagh GP, said general practice was in a very different place than it was 75 years ago when the health service began and the NHS – or Old Lady – was in its prime.

“We’re seeing huge challenges in primary care, seeing as the lady (from the NHS) may be in palliative care and we have to stop her from reaching the end of her life,” she said.

For some patients, she added, the system worked brilliantly — but often “getting in” is the hardest part.

Looking ahead, according to Professor Mark Taylor, a “robust workforce strategy” is required but also “a realization that prevention is better than cure”.

“Gone are the days when a hospital could have all the facilities and all the specialists within the same building,” he said.

“We have centers of excellence where people may have to travel and they may have to travel to a larger hospital for surgery of any description, so I think we have to say we cannot continue to pour money into the health service in its current form and expect a different outcome.”

He said authorities needed to look at how to make the NHS more efficient, whether it was to end the backlog in surgery, or its specialty, or in “making sure people get early diagnosis and timely treatment”.

At Ulster Hospital, the car park fills with waiting vehicles and ambulances – a familiar picture in the winter months, but according to ED consultant Sean McGovern, people come through its doors in the summer when they can’t be seen anywhere else.

He said if the NHS is going to see 100 years, there needs to be a lot of change including an extra focus on social care and end of life care so that older people don’t end up in the emergency department.

“Many patients waiting in bed are receiving end-of-life care and their desires for care will be in the community.

“We need to be stronger in the professional development of people going into social care and home care as careers,” he said.

While all the Royal Medical Colleges in Northern Ireland agree there must be massive change – the big question is whether the change will be implemented by local or Westminster politicians.

Peter Owens, a catering assistant in Ulster, said it was important to remember all staff who work in hospitals.

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Peter Owens said the hospital is more than just doctors and nurses

“Everybody thinks of hospitals and they automatically think of doctors and nurses, and they don’t think of the patient experience staff and the administrative staff and all the second and third group people who keep the place going,” he said.

“Everybody thinks of doctors and nurses, but it’s more than that, it’s the likes of me and all the other kitchen staff from cooks to service assistants, even people who work in the dining room.”

Samantha Foley is a home care worker who visits an average of 37 people in the community during a 12-hour shift.

“When you go to work, you put your feelings and everything out there and you’ll be there to do them a favor,” she said.

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Samantha Foley said healthcare workers in Northern Ireland feel “vulnerable”

“It might be the smallest thing you do for them, but it makes a huge difference.”

Health care workers in the rest of the UK recently received a wage increase, but it did not apply to Northern Ireland,

Samantha said: “We feel like we’re really underdogs, we don’t get what we should be, we work long hours and we all have to pick up extra shifts to keep our families afloat.

“I’ve already booked 10 more shifts this month.”

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