Department of Health

Representatives of the SOS Daisy Hill group along with Health Minister Mike Nesbitt

SOS Daisy Hill Hospital Committee meet with Health Minister

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has extended the appointment of Professor Siobhan O’Neill as the Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt announces extension of NI's mental health champion

Former neurologist Michael Watt

Legal bid to secure public inquiry into work of neurologist Michael Watt

Blurred figures of people with medical uniforms in hospital corridor

Shocking A&E performance data for Northern Ireland must be a catalyst for change

Moves to clamp down on people using NHS services when they are not entitled to have been welcomed by a former Stormont health minister. Photo: PA

Welcome for campaign against fraudulent use of NHS

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has welcomed the BMA NI Consultant Committee’s decision to recommend the Department’s proposed 2024/25 pay offer for consultants to its membership

BMA consultants in Northern Ireland invited to accept 5.26% pay uplift

Amid questions around health management and delivery, there are still nurses, doctors and staff who have the human touch

Letter: Compassion in healthcare is disappearing within a bureaucratic minefield

Morning View

Editorial: Health in NI would have been better run under direct rule

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt visited Gary Rutherford and his team at ARC Fitness on Tuesday (July 9) where he heard from a service user and Gary about the vital work and help the organisation provides to people and their families who are dealing with addiction. The Minister announced funding worth £200,000 to help secure the future for the much needed service

£200,000 funding announced for mental health project in Londonderry

Consultants in Northern Ireland have called off plans to take strike action. Photo: PA

Consultants in Northern Ireland call off plans to strike

Deborah McAllister from Larne was diagnosed with over-functioning anxiety, PTSD and compassion fatigue as a direct result of her unpaid caring role

Carers Week: NI woman on being diagnosed with 'PTSD and compassion fatigue'

The NHS

Consultants plan to vote on strike in Northern Ireland in dispute over pay

Junior doctors pictured on strike outside Stormont in east Belfast on Thursday

Thousands of cancelled appointments as doctors' strike action kicks in

Blurred figures of people with medical uniforms in hospital corridor

Junior doctors in Northern Ireland stage 48-hour strike

The Nipsa trade union is to ballot PSNI civilian staff on potential industrial action. Photo: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

'Under threat and undervalued' PSNI civilian staff to vote on industrial action

In a joint statement, the six chairs of Northern Ireland’s health trusts said they were 'deeply concerned at the financial outlook for the frontline services which our organisations deliver'

Health Trust chiefs warn of 'serious harm' to people in need of care
The chairs of Northern Ireland's health trusts have warned that projected budget cuts risk causing "avoidable and serious harm" to people in need of care.
By David Young, PA

Surgeons have called for recurrent budget to tackle Northern Ireland's waiting times

Surgeons 'extremely concerned' by quarterly statistics released by DoH

Junior doctors on the picket line outside the Royal Victoria Hospital in west Belfast during a 48 hour strike in Northern Ireland over pay and staff retention. Picture date: Wednesday May 22, 2024. Photo: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

Doctors strike: Swann 'can't restore 2008 pay' to everyone

Junior doctors at a picket line at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast back in March when they staged a 24-hour strike over pay. A fresh 48-hour walkout starts at 7am next Wednesday, with a second 48-hour strike scheduled for June 6-8. Photo by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

Junior doctors’ strike set to cause widespread disruption, department warns

Robin Swann leaving the Clayton Hotel in Belfast after giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 inquiry hearing.

No ‘specific isolation facilities’ in Northern Ireland at pandemic outbreak

DUP MLA Edwin Poots (right) and solicitor John McBurney, leaving the Clayton Hotel in Belfast after giving evidence at the UK Covid-19 inquiry hearing

Health department was ‘greatest superspreader’ of Covid, Poots tells inquiry

Health Service funding and structures have been at the centre of political debate for decades - the closure of the HSC Board was an attempt to streamline services.

'Serious questions' over HSC Board closure

Richard Pengelly, the former permanent secretary for Northern Ireland's Department of Health, leaves the Clayton Hotel in Belfast after giving evidence at the UK Covid-19 inquiry hearing. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Visit of Wuhan tourists to Larne ‘dispelled notion Covid could be contained’

Health minister Robin Swann claims an additional £500 million he was allocated in the budget agreed by the Stormont Executive last week falls well short of what is required to maintain health service provision at current levels. Photo: PA

Health trusts asked to save £300m for budget shortfall

It is an “indisputable matter of fact” that initial funding for health was increased in the budget agreed by the Stormont power-sharing Executive, MLAs have been told.

‘Indisputable matter of fact’ that health funding increased in budget

Eddie Lynch, Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland, at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry hearing at the Clayton Hotel in Belfast. Mr Lynch said his office received a lot of contact in the early stages of the pandemic around patients being discharged to care homes without a Covid-19 test

‘Reckless’ to discharge people to care homes without Covid tests

Stormont's deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has hit out at the health minister as the row between the UUP and the other Executive parties continues. Photo: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

Little-Pengelly: Swann has no budget alternative
Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly says that Robin Swann has no alternative to the Executive’s budget which could also ensure funding for schools – and says it is up to the health minister to deliver better outcomes.
By The Newsroom

People arriving at a Covid 19 testing centre

COVID-19 treatments extended for groups of patients in Northern Ireland

Consultants in Northern Ireland to be balloted for industrial action over pay and the impact its having on consultant recruitment and retention

Consultants in Northern Ireland to be balloted for industrial action

Upper Bann DUP MP Carla Lockhart says that parties need to clarify their positions on so-called 'gender affirming healthcare' in the wake of the landmark Cass report into children's gender services.

DUP MP seeks clarity on 'gender affirming healthcare'

Northern Ireland is facing an "early years communications crisis" with young people waiting too long for speech and language therapy, a new report has stated. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) has warned of rising numbers of pre-school children with communication difficulties in the region. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Report warns of ‘early years communication crisis’ in Northern Ireland

Health Minister Robin Swann and Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald be liaising over a baby loss certificate scheme for parents who have lost a baby during pregnancy before 24 weeks

Stormont ministers pledge to work together on baby loss certificate scheme

Paediatric consultant Dr Hilary Cass with a copy of her report: Yui Mok/PA

NI child transgender service continuing as normal following report

General image of Belfast City Hospital

Roughly 600 hospital beds are taken up by patients who should have gone home

Heidi Crowter with her husband James Carter, outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London in 2022. She was challenging legislation which allows the abortion of babies with Down's Syndrome up until birth. Picture date: Friday November 25, 2022.

Almost 8000 abortions in NI since decriminalisation in 2020

Health Minister Robin Swann pictured at the opening of the newly renovated Toome Surgery with Dr Amanda Watterson and Dr Adrian Johnston

Minister Robin Swann officially opens newly renovated GP practice in Toome

Almost half of all dentists in Northern Ireland say they are likely to drop all NHS patients. Photo: Alamy/PA.

Half of NI dentists say they are likely to drop all NHS patients

Junior doctors form a picket line at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast as they take part in a one-day strike over pay. Photo by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

'Simply not viable': Economist rubbishes striking doctors' pay claim

Junior doctors across Northern Ireland are to take part in their first ever industrial action over pay.

Junior doctors in Northern Ireland on 24-hour strike action over pay

A general view of Craigavon Area Hospital. Junior doctors should not strike before the health minister has ‘got his feet under his desk’ and should accept a 9% offer instead of demanding 35%, their critics say.

'Junior doctors strike' for 35% pay rise in NI is beyond reach'

The counselling service is due to end on March 31. Picture posed by model

Sex abuse charity Nexus appeals to Stormont leaders over counselling service

Registrar Jim Khan scrubs up before performing a Laparoscopic Anterior Resection on a patient at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, Hampshire.

Stormont's health budget 'needs to go up £400m every year just to stand still'

Junior doctors have voted to take part in a 24-hour walkout at hospitals across Northern Ireland from 8am on March 6 to 8am on March 7

Strike by junior doctors cannot achieve anything of substance – Robin Swann

A doctor checking a patient's blood pressure. Photo: PA/Wire

Junior doctors in Northern Ireland vote to take strike action

Health chiefs fear a new outbreak of measles in Northern Ireland

Measles cases in Northern Ireland only a matter of time, warn health chiefs

Measles cases in Northern Ireland only a matter of time, warn health chiefs

Letters to editor

Letter: Hospice funding U-turn raises questions

Health Minister Robin Swann

Children's Hospice financial pressures deeper than Stormont funding loss: Swann

Nurses are among health workers to have taken industrial action over pay recently

Robin Swann warns of £1bn black hole in Northern Ireland's health budget

Health minister Robin Swann has asked officials to look “urgently” at planned bed cuts at the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.

Swann asks officials to look urgently at hospice plans to reduce beds

A new report has highlighted the 'rapid emergence' of vaping.

Number of smokers drops by 10% but report highlights 'rapid emergence' of vaping

A dentist at work. Photo: Martin Rickett/PA Wire

EU metallic fillings ban an 'existential threat' to NHS services, dentists warn

The public sector strike on 18 January 2024 is affecting all aspects of health and social care. Photo: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

Public sector strike affecting 'all aspects' of health and social care in NI

Craigavon Area Hospital

Delays in hospital discharges means new patients not being treated says report

Nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers will be among tens of thousands of public sector employees taking part in a generalised day of action on January 18 over an outstanding pay award for public sector workers

Northern Ireland health strike ‘will have profound impact’ on services