Monthly Archives: March 2018

Delay: MLA Roy Beggs By Staff Reporter March 23 2018 A cash injection of £30m to tackle hospital waiting lists in Northern Ireland does not go far enough, it has been claimed. The funding boost, announced yesterday by the Department of Health, will be used to target inpatient and outpatient lists, with priority given to urgent cases and the longest lists, officials said. The money will come from the £100m “transformation” fund made available as part of a confidence and supply agreement between the DUP and Conservatives. Richard Pengelly, Department of Health permanent secretary, said: “To deliver transformation, we also need to increase public trust in the system and relieve some of the pressure on our staff. “The Delivering Together and Bengoa reports both endorsed ‘stabilisation’ through reducing waiting lists. Today’s announcement is an important step towards that goal.” However, the senior civil servant cautioned that further investment in the … Continue reading →

Warning: Janice Smyth By Alan Jones March 22 2018 There is no guarantee that NHS workers in Northern Ireland will benefit from the proposed pay offer worth between 6.5% and 29% over three years, it has been warned. The proposed deal, agreed at a meeting between 14 unions and NHS employers, signals the end of the Government’s controversial public sector pay cap. Under the agreement, the pay of the lowest-paid staff, such as porters and cleaners, will increase by 15%. Half of NHS workers are at the top of their pay band so will receive a 6.5% increase. The other half will get between 9% and 29%, with midwives and physiotherapists among those in line for the biggest increase. If the agreement is accepted, the extra funding for English health budgets will go through the Barnett formula into budgets in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This will allow unions, devolved … Continue reading →

Warning: Janice Smyth By Alan Jones March 22 2018 There is no guarantee that NHS workers in Northern Ireland will benefit from the proposed pay offer worth between 6.5% and 29% over three years, it has been warned. The proposed deal, agreed at a meeting between 14 unions and NHS employers, signals the end of the Government’s controversial public sector pay cap. Under the agreement, the pay of the lowest-paid staff, such as porters and cleaners, will increase by 15%. Half of NHS workers are at the top of their pay band so will receive a 6.5% increase. The other half will get between 9% and 29%, with midwives and physiotherapists among those in line for the biggest increase. If the agreement is accepted, the extra funding for English health budgets will go through the Barnett formula into budgets in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This will allow unions, devolved … Continue reading →

Former UUP MLA Jo-Anne Dobson and her son Mark are both recovering well after she gave him the gift of new life in the form of one of her kidneys. A surgeon removed Joanne’s kidney at 8.30am on Tuesday and by 12.30pm he was inserting it into her son. “We are hearing everything is going well,” a family friend said. “It is good to hear there are no complications.” Mark’s kidney problems began when the 24-year-old was just five weeks old. He was given a kidney from a deceased donor in 2009. But last January doctors discovered that it was failing and it had to be removed. Since August 2017 he has been on dialysis at Daisy Hill Hospital three days per week – taking four hours at a time. However, his mother on Tuesday put her life on the line to give her son a chance at a more … Continue reading →

Northern Ireland workers could miss out on the NHS staff payrise March 21 2018 An MLA has warned that NHS staff in Northern Ireland are likely to miss out on the 6.5% pay increase announced in England as a result of the continuing political stalemate at Stormont. NHS staff in England are set to receive a pay rise of at least 6.5% over three years – with some getting as much as 29%. The deal was formally agreed by union leaders and ministers on Wednesday and will cost over £4.2bn. Staff will now be asked to vote on the deal with rises backdated to April if they agree by the summer. Ulster Unionist Party Health Spokesperson, Roy Beggs MLA, claimed Northern Ireland staff could miss out on the rise. “The UUP has long argued that because health workers here are signed up to the NHS’s wider UK terms and conditions, … Continue reading →