The Nation’s Health
As we rapidly approach Northern Ireland's centenary, it has never been more important for us to look back at the events of the past 100 years that have brought our society together.
Shaped and motivated by our nation's shared experience during the Second World War, the establishment of our National Health Service encapsulated the desire to abolish poverty and want from the United Kingdom by confronting "diseases, ignorance, squalor and idleness." The passage of the Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) Act 1948 by the Ulster Unionist government delivered free and accessible healthcare to all in our society with resources allocated on the basis of need, rather than the ability to pay.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the value and importance of this vision. The pandemic has brought out the best in so many of us. We have all made once-unthinkable changes to our daily lives to take care of our neighbours and protect those confronting COVID-19 on the frontlines. During the pandemic, our shared experience has highlighted the essential role that our health service and our health workers play in caring for our loved ones in these trying times.
While there have been numerous reforms and developments of our health service, we continue to witness our health service in a challenging place. The pressures on our health service have continued in recent years with the absence of leadership following the Executive's collapse in 2017.
It is our desire to see an end to headlines about our health service facing swelling waiting lists, delivering critical services inefficiently, and lurching from one crisis to another.
Our vision for our NHS over the next 100 years could not be simpler. We want to ensure as much of our population can live their lives to their fullest potential as healthy people. It is a fundamental right that all adults and children who require care and support due to their age, disability, risk, or poverty should have access to quality healthcare.
If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything to our communities, it is the indispensable role that doctors, nurses and allied medical professionals play in our society. The era of political leaders failing to deliver the necessary support for frontline health workers cannot be allowed to return to Stormont. For our NHS to thrive, we must ensure that the selfless individuals that are willing to devote their careers to caring for and healing the sick are fairly compensated for their vital work. We must ensure that our cherished health workers can perform their work in fully staffed departments and is fully funded facilities that deliver quality health care to those who need it most.
There must be better. We must aspire to form a health service that effectively serves everyone in Northern Ireland. The next hundred years will pose dilemmas we can barely contemplate now. However, developing a system that can cope with tomorrow's problems means solving those we face today.
A key element of delivering tomorrow's health solutions centres on our leaders building on the rich research networks that exist in Northern Ireland. Throughout its history, Northern Ireland has been a leader in developing innovative healthcare solutions to conditions such as tuberculosis following the Second World War to Professor Frank Pantridge, who developed the first portable defibrillator in 1965. Ground-breaking work continues to this day in Northern Ireland's world-leading universities, hospitals, and medical enterprises where solutions to COVID-19, cancer, mental health and countless other areas are developed every day. We must continue to celebrate this critical work as their research not only improves the lives of the people of Northern Ireland, but of communities across the world.
Though our approach to physical health matters will be of vital importance as we attempt to develop an NHS that is fit for the next 100 years, it is not the only area of healthcare that we can afford to focus on. Tireless campaigning has finally enabled our society to accept that mental illness can affect all people regardless of race, gender, religion, or political opinion. It remains an issue that our communities have neglected for too long.
Since the re-establishment of Northern Ireland's Executive in January 2020, it is encouraging to see that the problems facing mental health services have started to receive the recognition they deserve. It is encouraging that the Health Minister has established the position of a Mental Health Champion, build on efforts to work towards zero suicides and delivered much-needed funding to service providers.
However, there is more work to be done. As we enter the next 100 years, we hope to see Northern Ireland become a world leader in tackling the scourge of mental ill-health in our society. With strong and decisive leadership, we can end the lingering perception of the delivery of mental health support as the 'Cinderella' service. Our work will never be complete until we enable people with mental health difficulties to lead their lives with dignity and respect.
Though our immediate focus will always be drawn to the issues that are presently affecting our health service, the centenary allows us to be circumspect, anticipate and plan for the problems that our NHS will inevitably face in years to come. As Northern Ireland's population continues to age and our society recognises the importance of supporting individuals with life-long disabilities, the pressure will continue to build on our social care providers unless we implement a strategic vision for the next century.
As we enter the next 100 years, we must continue to celebrate our remarkable health service's demonstrated value. Rather than engaging in other's moot discussions about what a healthcare system could look like, we should look at the next 100 years as an opportunity to discuss what steps we can all take to deliver new treatments, reimagined services, and better outcomes to all in Northern Ireland.
As Aneurin Bevan recognised, the NHS "will last as long as there as folk left with the faith to fight for it." Our shared experience in recent weeks and months should serve as a reminder that we all must continue to fight for the delivery of high-quality healthcare for all. All political leaders must step up and help efforts to build a responsive health service that is capable of delivering the best possible outcomes in Northern Ireland's next 100 years.