Fighting for our health and social care services

Conference remains deeply concerned that our health and social care system remains under-staffed and under-resourced, with privatisation of services continuing, and with wide health inequalities across society. This concern is now being exacerbated by the impact of the cost of living crisis on the public whose health and wellbeing may be negatively affected. 

Conference notes in particular that: 

· Northern Ireland reportedly has some of the worst waiting times for treatment across the UK, with figures suggesting one in every four people are now waiting for their first hospital consultation or procedure, with unacceptably long waiting lists forcing people to pay for treatment privately; 

· Significant health inequalities remain between those living in the most and least deprived areas of Northern Ireland; 

· Thousands of vacancies exist across the health and social care system, with high vacancy rates across a number of staffing groups; 

· Hundreds of millions are spent each year on bringing in agency staff to fill staffing gaps, particularly in nursing; 

· There is a growing demand for adult social care services as our older population grows. Our social care services are largely outsourced and privatised, with workers often on low-pay and with poor terms and conditions. 

Conference believes that to address this situation we need a model of public health which requires not only radical reform of the health and social care system, but also a radical change in the way all Executive Ministers and Departments take their share of responsibility for the health and well-being of all the people. 

Conference calls on the Northern Ireland Committee, via the NIC-ICTU Health Committee working with affiliates, to initiate a campaign calling for: 

· A renewed commitment from all political parties to the very principles the NHS was founded upon – a public service, publicly delivered and free at the point of need; 

· The abolition of the internal market in health and social care, and the costly and unnecessary commissioner/provider split, to free resources. In its place there should be a public health model delivered on NHS founding principles within the public sector, with eradicating health inequalities as its central goal; 

· A halt and reversal of the growth of private medicine being used to deliver services for the public, with the capacity of public services instead being increased to provide treatment and care;

· A clear plan across Government to address serious health inequalities, including through a comprehensive and overarching Anti-Poverty strategy; 

· An end to the staffing crisis within health and social care through taking actions such as increased investment in training places, enhancing the nursing bank and redirecting the huge sums spent on agency staff to better pay and terms and conditions for staff directly employed within the health service, focussing on retaining staff that services need.

· Reform of the recruitment model for staff across the HSC system, with a return to recruitment being undertaken at the local, Trust level instead of being undertaken on a regional basis. HSC employers should take further actions to encourage and facilitate greater representation of persons with disabilities across the HSC workforce; 

· The introduction of Safe Staffing legislation to set clear duties in relation to workforce planning and investment, ensure accountability, and demonstrate a clear political commitment to this issue; 

· A social care system that can respond to the needs of all requiring care and support, with a stable workforce that has trade union recognition, decent pay and terms and conditions, with the return of privatised services back in house.