Debate contribution: Budgetary Pressures

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 10 September 2024.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

10 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Budgetary Pressures

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4517462

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the motion. It is crucial that we keep this important issue front and centre.

It has been reiterated numerous times during this mandate that the Assembly remains united in the view that we have been and continue to be underfunded by the British Government relative to the level of need across the North. In particular, the current level of funding for health and social care services is unsustainable, given the current demand and the projected need for service capacity now and for the future. As others highlighted, the waiting lists here are among the worst in western Europe, with thousands of patients awaiting procedures. While waiting, they are in pain and distress, which ensures that their conditions continue to deteriorate. By the time that they are seen, they are much worse than they were at the beginning. Our emergency departments are overcrowded, and many patients wait for unreasonably long periods before being assessed and treated in our hospitals. Hospitals are under constant strain, and overstretched bed capacity is now the norm in wards, with unstaffed beds or beds beyond the capacity of the ward now commonplace. That fails not only patients but staff, who work in the most unsafe conditions under extreme pressure. Many patients are unable to be discharged when they are medically fit to leave hospital, due to the lack of domiciliary care packages. That needs to be addressed urgently to keep our health service functioning properly. With an ageing population, community care is a vital component of our health and social care system to ensure that patients are discharged when they should be and with the appropriate support to allow them to return to their own homes. It is well-evidenced that people who remain in hospital for prolonged periods are more likely to experience further deterioration in health through mobility problems, infections and other conditions that could have been avoided had they been discharged at the right time. That, in turn, puts increased pressure on our overall health service as patients' medical and care needs increase. Caring is an extremely important profession, and that cannot be overstated. We need proper investment in social care to ensure that care workers are property valued for the essential role that they play in the functioning of our health service and in ensuring that people can not only live longer but live well for longer. Across our health service, healthcare workers struggle to cope with the demands placed on them in clinical settings. Many professions report high levels of burnout. That has resulted in our losing doctors, nurses, consultants and many other essential staff to other jurisdictions and countries where pay and, most importantly, conditions are much more attractive. There, they can do the job that they trained to do and that they love in a much safer environment. We have seen the impact of that, particularly on children's social work teams across the North. With staff leaving or going off sick due to the stress and pressure that they are under, some teams have been left with no staff, and others operate with a minimum of staff. That has a detrimental effect on not only staff but children, young people and their families, an effect that will cause untold, long-term damage to their future and for generations to come. It is therefore essential that plans be developed to address the serious recruitment and retention issues facing our health and social care workforce: without people, we have no health service. Our health service is undoubtedly beyond crisis point and is probably the single biggest issue that I, and many others in the Chamber, will be contacted about in relation to the experience and views of staff, patients and trade unions every single day. It affects us all, including our families and friends. It is crystal clear that, if we want to deliver properly for patients and staff, we need proper transformation and investment in health and social care. It is therefore imperative that the British Government provide the appropriate funding to match the level of need, not just for the here and now but to protect our health service's long-term future. We must continue to stand together to keep the best interests and health of our people front and centre and to challenge this new Labour Government to step up to the plate and provide the funding that we need now.

732 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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