Democratic Unionist Party health policy

The importance of Health and Social Care to everyone in Northern Ireland has been reflected by the priority given to it by the Democratic Unionist Party in this Assembly term. During the past 5 years, the DUP has produced a record to be proud of during its time in charge of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.

People are living longer. Key mortality rates like cancer mortality in under 75s and avoidable mortality are falling;

• We have invested over half a billion pounds more in Health;
• We have employed 275 more consultants, 1,200 more nurses and midwives, and 500 more allied health professionals;
• We have delivered over £800 million in efficiency savings to reinvest in the frontline;
• We have built new, state of the art health and social care facilities such as the new Critical Care Building at the Royal Victoria Hospital, new Health and Care Centres in Ballymena and Banbridge, the Radiotherapy Unit at Altnagelvin and large scale redevelopment of the Ulster Hospital and
• We have developed new services like a HEMS air ambulance and a world leading mental trauma service.

We recognise that our NHS in Northern Ireland is under pressure and faces a range of tough challenges now and into the future. Yet, the focus of some on what isn’t perfect within the system distracts us away from what is working well and the many improvements that have been made. Ours is a Health and Social Care system which, in spite of the many issues it must contend with, has improved performance and increased productivity over the past 5 years.

Under DUP leadership:

• the number of people admitted to hospitals in Northern Ireland has increased by over 25,000 between 2010/11 and 2014/15;
• the average length of stay in hospital has fallen from 6.7 days in 2011/12 to 6.0 days in 2014/15;
• the number of domiciliary care contact hours has increased by 12% from 2011 to 2014 and
• the Ambulance Service has responded to 13,000 more Category A emergency calls between 2010/11 and 2014/15.

However, we must continue to improve. For example, much needed guidance for our health professionals dealing with terminations has been provided. An expert panel on the issue of pregnancies with severe life limiting conditions has been established.

The DUP has a vision for a sustainably financed Health and Social Care system that puts quality, safety and the patient at its centre by providing world class outcomes for our population. This is our Plan to achieve it.

1. A BILLION POUNDS MORE FOR HEALTH
The DUP pledges to seek to increase spending on Health by at least £1 billion by the end of the next Assembly term to specifically help in tackling waiting lists and investment in innovation and reform. We will continue to invest in the transformation of Health and Social Care services by ensuring that a Transformation Fund of at least £30 million remains in place for each year of the next Assembly term.

2. MORE FRONTLINE STAFF
The DUP will invest more resources in increasing frontline staff numbers and will employ at least 1,500 more Nurses and Midwives and 200 more Consultants by the end of the next Assembly term.

3. TRANSFORMING MENTAL HEALTH
We will continue to increase spending on mental health each and every year of the next Assembly term. We will appoint mental health champions across the public sector and establish a world leading mental trauma service.

4. A HEALTH SERVICE FIT FOR THE CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY
The DUP will reduce bureaucracy and encourage innovation by passing legislation through the Assembly to close the Health and Social Care Board, moving responsibility for commissioning services primarily to the Department with more autonomy for the Trusts in certain areas. We will support the work of the Expert Panel led by Professor Rafael Bengoa as they seek to remodel Northern Ireland’s Health Service to overcome looming challenges like our growing and ageing population, the rise in the number of chronic conditions and the impact of unhealthy lifestyles.

5. GETTING TO GRIPS WITH WAITING LISTS
The DUP will support the additional investment of a minimum of £80 million to tackle waiting lists in each year of the next Assembly term. This extra money will be focused on increasing capacity inside the Health Service in Northern Ireland but will utilise the independent sector where and when appropriate. It will help people to get close to 200,000 appointments, treatments and procedures each year with the target of getting waiting lists well below 2013 levels by 2021.

6. ENCOURAGING ACTIVE AND HEALTHY AGEING
The DUP will establish a Commission on Adult Care and Support to provide expert, independent analysis of the challenges facing the system and to think radically about what changes must be made to safeguard it for future generations. The Commission on Adult Care and Support will be tasked with producing a set of recommendations to reform the system and its funding structures to ensure its future sustainability. We will pay particular attention to ‘best practice’ examples like the acclaimed Buurtzorg community care model in the Netherlands and Italy’s new models of care in managing the chronic conditions of its ageing population and we will actively examine the opportunity for rolling out similar models in Northern Ireland.

7. SUPPORTING PRIMARY CARE
The DUP will further support primary care by working progressively towards having 110 GPs a year in training by 2020, continuing to support the development of GP Federations, implementing the recommendations of the GP Working Group and maintaining a Financial Transactions Capital funded GP Modernisation Scheme. The DUP will support the Northern Ireland wide roll out of the physiotherapy direct access scheme and will develop similar projects in other specialisms.

8. DELIVERING DIGITAL HEALTHCARE
The DUP will develop a new Electronic Health and Care Record for Northern Ireland to help revolutionise the delivery of health and social care for patients. This would provide accurate, up-to-date and complete information about patients at every point of care, reduce discharge delays and enable safer and more reliable prescribing of medication as well as increase the time that doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers have to spend with patients – allowing the use of data analytics to improve population health and care planning and it will help our Health and Social Care system to become ‘paperless.’

9. PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH
The DUP supports a continuation and amplification of the cross-Departmental approach to tackling health inequalities in Northern Ireland, building on the progress made by the Making Life Better public health strategy, as part of the next Programme for Government. We will also consider the success of initiatives like South Australia’s Health in All Policies (HiAP) and examine if a similar approach could work in Northern Ireland.

10. INVESTING IN NEW HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE
The DUP will provide support for further investment in improving healthcare facilities across Northern Ireland. This includes the new regional mother and children’s hospital at the Royal Victoria Hospital, further redevelopment of the Ulster Hospital and redevelopment of Craigavon Area Hospital. We will also take forward the development of more Health and Care Centres in Lisburn and Newry and examine the scope for places like Newtownards, Bangor, Armagh, Dungannon, Lisnaskea, Carrickfergus and Larne.

11. PERINATAL HOSPICE CARE FOR LIFE LIMITING CONDITIONS
Public debate has focused on the needs of women who are pregnant with a child diagnosed with a severe life limiting condition. The DUP believes that women who find themselves in these most difficult of situations need the best medical and emotional support. The DUP is committed to establishing a perinatal hospice care service or facility in Northern Ireland.

12. BEATING CANCER
The DUP will continue increasing investment in cancer care by at least an additional 10% and introduce a new comprehensive cancer care plan for the next decade. We will endeavour to improve 5 year cancer survival rates by 20 percentage points from the establishment of devolved government, continue to promote awareness and prevention, establish further innovative new services and provide more nurse specialists.

13. ASSISTING NURSING
The DUP recognises that the contribution made by nurses and midwives is invaluable to the functioning of Northern Ireland’s Health Service. Equally, we acknowledge the pressures facing the profession especially around staff numbers. We are proud to have worked closely with the Royal College of Nursing to address a range of challenges facing nurses. During the next Assembly term, the DUP will support nursing by implementing the recommendations of the newly created Nursing Task Group, retain Nursing Bursaries in Northern Ireland and continue to increase the number of nurses and midwives in training and practice.