Wages and politics will dominate the news in 2024

People, pay, politics and a dash of positivity best describe Northern Ireland’s health and social care story in 2024.

There were many powerful stories. Who can forget the personal testimonies from the UK coronavirus inquiry in Belfast, or the scandal surrounding cervical cancer tests, which revealed many women and their families had failed? Is it?

Hospital waiting lists have reached a milestone, with more than 500,000 people now on the list for an initial consultation with a specialist.

Amid scandals and apologies, the year also saw important developments in assisted dying in Westminster and the Republic of Ireland.

There was also a movement on the “duty of honesty,” which emphasized the need for honesty throughout medical care.

As always, most services are operating at full capacity and dedicated staff are keeping things afloat.

The year began with major strike action in Northern Ireland and the largest public sector worker strike in years.

After a shaky start to the year, with tens of thousands of workers fired from 16 unions over pay disputes, the year ended on a more stable note with progress on a pay deal.

Patient stories have driven the news agenda, particularly from internal public inquiries including Mackamore and Urology.

But a heart-wrenching personal experience from inside a blood survey in London in May may have focused his attention.

A damning report into the infected blood scandal has found that 30,000 people infected with HIV and hepatitis between 1970 and 1991 could have been “largely avoided”.

Local faces were among the thousands who gathered to hear the inquiry chair, Sir Brian Langstaff, conclude that doctors’ bodies, the NHS and the government had failed victims “repeatedly”. Ta.

Apologies have been issued by Belfast Health Trust and Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS).

Conan McIlrath, from County Antrim, said there was much more to it than the words of the report, after all “you don’t use the word failure 190 times for nothing”.

In April, the UK Coronavirus Inquiry in Belfast heard devastating evidence of multiple failings across multiple enforcement departments in NI.

“Political dysfunction” was found to have hindered the rollout and compliance of some COVID-19 policies, with an investigative adviser saying it had “a direct impact on the number of infections and deaths”. Ta.

We heard that “older people are being left severely exposed” and that public health agencies “failed to respond quickly to the seriousness of what was happening.”

Former Health Secretary Robin Swann said he had every penny down for himself on March 10, 2020, about the “grave position” Northern Ireland was in.

It wouldn’t be a year-end review of Northern Ireland without some mention of the new Executive.

Robin Swann returned to the role of health minister in February, but resigned after becoming an MP in July, and Mike Nesbitt was appointed as his successor.

In what felt like a new direction, the new Health Minister gave his first speech since taking office at a community center for vulnerable adults, and there was a bit of positivity.

On paper, this signals a shift in focus to tackling health disparities and increasing spending on community care.

But change requires money and much bickering ensued, with ministers ultimately rejecting a November monitoring round worth £350m for the department.

He said there was still £100m short of the amount needed to resolve the health sector’s pay dispute.

Heading into December, the Department of Health (DoH) received £8.8bn in the Stormont budget, and Mr Nesbitt described it as a “very difficult allocation” but added that he was accepting the challenge. .

Earlier this month, the minister announced a three-year plan, which DoH says will require government support and funding to reach its goals.

Stormont’s health committee carried out an in-depth investigation into a range of issues, with the main focus on Belfast’s stalled new maternity hospital.

They said it would be difficult to justify additional funding as construction of new maternity units continues to drain money.

It’s rare for an individual patient to appear in consecutive year-end reviews, but ovarian cancer patient Christine Campbell is, of course, an exception.

Terminally ill Christine is living longer than her doctors expected, and this year we were able to announce that a new treatment called Avastin has given her a lifeline.

In July 2023, she was told she had less than a year to live, but Christine is still here.

“I think it’s given me this extra lifeline now, or I feel like it’s an extra lifeline for me, and it’s given me a little bit of hope,” she said.

What a great year it has been for women’s voices highlighting the need for change in women’s health care.

There were calls for a women’s health hub and a call for a women’s health strategy.

‘Women with Letters’ puts a human face to all the troubles at the Southern Heath Trust over the cervical smear scandal.

The investigation concluded that eight women whose smear tests were misread by the examiner developed cancer, and a further 11 women required treatment.

Two women died.

Southern Trust has apologized.

One of the women, Stella McLoughlin, told BBC News NI it was an “unforgivable scandal”.

Just like every year, we are looking forward to the end of this year.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is the challenge of retaining staff.

Salary agreements have been reached between the DoH and most trade unions.

The question is how to avoid annual battles over medical costs in the future.