Despite record waiting lists and outcry from staff, the health service in Northern Ireland will have to make do with a miniscule increase in funding this financial year, after Chris Heaton-Harris, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, unveiled a controversial new budget for the region.
While the executive at Stormont is out of action owing to a boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Heaton-Harris announced that the Department of Health budget would be £7.3bn for the coming year, an increase of just 0.5% on last year and far below what experts say is necessary. “I think everyone feels that it’s just nowhere near enough,” said Aidan O’Neill, …