Last July, the Department set out a Reset and Recovery plan to
reform the Health and Social Care System (HSC), establish
financial stability and improve health outcomes.
The Department's Reset Plan is tied strongly into prevention and
earlier intervention, moving care from hospitals to community,
while using data to target resources better and reduce
unwarranted variability in care across the HSC.
The Reset and Recovery plan has already delivered savings worth
over £300million in 2025/26 (and over £200m in 2024/25) but
significant challenges remain for the HSC as a whole if we are to
address current financial pressures, while delivering service
improvements over the longer term as we shift the focus of care
from hospital to community under our Neighbourhood plans. Our
commitment also remains to reduce health inequalities through
this approach.
The HSC is currently spending more than £2 million a day over
budget so the Reset and Recovery plan aims to restore financial
balance, deliver better value for money, and shift investment
towards services in the community rather than hospitals, where
most funding is currently spent.
With fundamental elements of the new approach now in place, the
HSC has been tasked with delivering 4% cash releasing and
efficiency savings this financial year, as part of a three-year
recovery plan.
While Trusts have been developing savings plans since January,
the Department appreciates that this will be a challenging and
ongoing process. Trusts will be supported as they deliver the
outworkings of these plans.
At Trust level, this will include a vacancy control process,
reducing temporary staffing (including bank, agency and locum
staff) and setting the appropriate number of hospital beds as
more care is delivered in the community, closer to people's
homes. Trusts will also standardise care pathways, shorten
hospital stays and reorganise services to strengthen and sustain
vulnerable services. There will be a reduction in escalated beds,
creating a more flexible bed base that can respond to changing
demand. Trusts will work more closely together on workforce,
finance, procurement and partnership decisions through the new
Committees in Common structure to ensure every pound is used
effectively. Releasing resources in this way will enable
investment in primary care, voluntary sector and better care for
older people in their own homes.
Gillian Lewis, Head of the Northern Ireland Collective, said: For
the past 13 months, we have worked closely with the Department of
Health to ensure Voluntary and Community Health Sector are
recognised as partners in shaping and delivering Reset and
Reform. This partnership is vital to the wellbeing of communities
across Northern Ireland, many of whom rely on VCSE organisations
for local health and wellbeing support. At a time of significant
financial pressure, stronger collaboration between the VCSE
sector and the Department is more important than ever to improve
outcomes and maximise the value of limited resources.
Notes to editors:
- While the Executive has not yet agreed a budget for 2026-27,
based on current proposals, DoH is facing a funding gap of around
£800 million, of which around £280 million relates to 2026-27 pay
awards and the introduction of the real living wage.
- Within the Four Nation NHS jurisdictions, Northern Ireland
falls behind in terms of key health metrics such as elective
waiting times, access to primary care and ambulance handover
times. This cannot be fully attributed to Northern Ireland's
current funding level or demand on the health and social care
system.
- Meanwhile, over the last decade Health has been increasingly
drawing more resource as a percentage of total expenditure from
the total Northern Ireland Executive's allocation although this
has flattened considerably in the last two years.
- If the current trend continues on resource drawn for Health,
it would lead to an ever-increasing percentage of Northern
Ireland's total budget being spent on health and care. This is
clearly not a sustainable position.
- The Reset Plan for HSC is key to helping us deliver the
necessary changes to ensure sustainability, access and capacity
for the future.
