Dear reader The latest plan to tackle Northern Ireland's long waiting lists was unveiled by Health Minister Robin Swann on Tuesday. There have been plenty of previous plans to improve our struggling health service, but Mr Swann's five-year strategy is going to cost £700m. The Ulster Unionist minister says he wants our long waiting lists to be "banished" by 2026. There are currently more than 335,000 waiting on a first consultant-led appointment in Northern Ireland, with some facing waits of up to seven years for treatment. Undoubtedly the situation has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, but our health service was already in a desperate state before coronavirus arrived. In terms of Covid, new infections have shown an increase but hospital admissions for the virus continue to fall. Alistair Bushe Editor Want total access to all of our online content? You can subscribe to our website, newsletter.co.uk for just £1 for 3 months - and it couldn't be easier.
Signing up will get you faster-loading articles, fewer adverts and access to exclusive content and events when we run them. To learn more, visit our Subscriptions page here. |