UK. £152.7 million health investment package for Northern Ireland

Citation

(2002), "UK. £152.7 million health investment package for Northern Ireland", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 15 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2002.06215gab.005

UK. £152.7 million health investment package for Northern Ireland

UK

£152.7 million health investment package for Northern Ireland

Keywords: Reinvestment and Reform Initiative, Modernising hospitals, Northern Ireland

Also in July, Minister for Health Social Services and Public Safety, Ms Bairbre de Brún, gave details of a £152.7 m investment package, which will have major benefits for the Health Service across the North. The Minister welcomed this initial tranche of Reinvestment and Reform Initiative and explained:

"Since I took up office as Minister I have made clear the scale of deficiencies in the health service arising from the failure to invest in services in years past. I have highlighted in particular the need to maintain and renew the critical infrastructure which underpins the provision of services across the HPSS. We face a bill of £2 billion, at today's prices, over the next decade. Much of this is for the acute service, as outlined in my Developing Better Services – Modernising Hospitals and Reforming Structures document."

The Minister noted that in many cases the estate and equipment available to staff was increasingly unacceptable in the face of more explicit and stringent standards, and said that to redress this it was not enough simply to upgrade facilities; it was necessary to make strategic, sustained and substantial investment to provide the infrastructure capable of delivering and support modern day care.

Of the funding available, cancer services will receive some £59.5m, and almost £20 million will be used for strategic renewal of two acute sites: Altnagelvin Hospital and Daisy Hill Hospital. £16.2 million will be spent on the Ambulance Service and £11 million on Learning Disability services The Minister also outlined plans to urgently increase capacity in the acute sector and for improving community services in North and West Belfast.