Northern Ireland Health Chief: Multi-Year Budget Needed

0:00On March 30, Stormont leaders in Northern Ireland still haven't locked in a multi-year budget after more than a decade without one, and that's slowing down a major health service overhaul warns a top health official. Finance Minister John O'Dowd floated draft plans back in January, but no agreement yet. Right now, health swallows over 50 percent of the region's yearly spend. Mike Farar, the permanent secretary at the Department of Health, says the reset plan can limp along on single-year budgets, but a three-year setup. We'd let them plan properly for real change. Without transformation, health costs could jump to 75 percent of the budget by 2025. For our stresses, they can't keep rating other departments for cash as it's unfair and unsustainable. Last financial year kicked off with a 600 million-pound shortfall, fixed through almost 300 million in savings plus executive, support. Looking into the next year, an 800 million-pound gap looms from surging demand, staff pay, drug

1:01tariffs, and inflation. Health Minister Mike Nezbit rolled out his reset blueprint last July, shifting cash to neighborhood care to cut hospital stays and launching public. Health drives to stop illness up front. Some waiting lists have shrunk a bit over the past year, but Farar says a multi-year budget is crucial to bed in these shifts over two to three. Squeezing better value from existing funds and easing pressure on the whole system.