Mr Nesbitt also pointed out that the draft Northern Ireland budget provides no additional funding for waiting list reduction initiatives for the second consecutive year, and referred to reports which have found the health and social care service needs more funding.
“Increased life expectancy is a massive achievement for society and modern science but when it comes to inescapable realities for public services and public spending, older people need more health care and more social care,”.
Northern Ireland’s health minister has called for a “reality check” over the funding of the region’s health service.
In some areas we can slow the increase in costs but let’s not pretend we can reduce or virtually freeze health spending while providing the level of services we want and that the public demand.”.
“The stark reality is that we need to be honest about the current and projected demand pressures on health and social care,” he said.
