We need to dispense with outdated responses if our health service is to return to good health.
That was a key message from Department of Health Permanent Secretary Peter May at a reception to mark the 75th birthday of the NHS.
The event was held in Parliament Buildings by the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care (NICON).
Mr May said the birthday is a time to celebrate our health service’s achievements and consider its future.
Citing the severe pressures on health and social care, he also told the event it is “vitally important we do not lose hope or project a message of unremitting negativity”.
The Permanent Secretary continued: “There are reasons for optimism. We have a great staff, giving of their best every day. Innovation, compassion, expertise, dedication, world class specialist care – these are all daily realities in our health service. One of the biggest privileges of my job is seeing this in action on a regular basis.”
He also said: “The problems are well-documented and long in the making.
“But for the last 75 years, those in Health and Social Care have solved the problems in front of them.
“It’s the same when it comes to fixing our health service. We can’t carry on regardless with outdated approaches. Stretching services too thinly over too many sites. Ignoring the growing need for some services to be concentrated in specialised hubs. Resisting any change to local hospitals, whatever the evidence. Limping through with limited single year budgets. Pretending one off funding injections will cure everything.”
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