Health and Care NI
Encyclopedia
Publicly-funded health care
Publicly funded health care is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most health care needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are set down in rules applying to the whole population...
service responsible for the administration of the public health and other social care services in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The Northern Ireland Executive
Northern Ireland Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It is answerable to the Assembly and was established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement...
through its Health Department
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive...
is responsible for the funding of the service. It is free of charge to all citizens of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. For services such as A&E, patients simply walk in, state their name and date of birth, are given treatment and then leave. Patients are unaware of costs incurred by them using the service. It is often called the NHS
National Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
, as in Scotland, England and Wales, but differs in that it provides not only health care but social care too. In Britain, the three NHS services only provide health care. Social services are provided by local councils. The Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Service was created by the Northern Ireland Office after the Beveridge Report
Beveridge Report
The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, known commonly as the Beveridge Report was an influential document in the founding of the Welfare State in the United Kingdom...
.
Organisation
The Department is organised under a Permanent SecretaryPermanent Secretary
The Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
into several groups and one agency. These are the Planning and Resources Group, Strategic Planning and Modernisation Group and Primary, Secondary and Community Care Group and the 5 Professional Groups. The Department’s Executive Agency is the Health and Social Services Estates Agency (known as Health Estates).
The five professional groups are
- Medical and Allied Services
- Social Services Inspectorate
- Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Group
- Dental Services
- Pharmaceutical Advice and Services
Trusts are the statutory bodies responsible for the management of staff, health and social care services on the ground and have control their own budgets. In 2007 the 19 Health and Social Services Trusts were merged into six Health and Social Care Trusts.
Prescription charges
On 29th September 2008 Health minister Michael McGimpseyMichael McGimpsey
Michael McGimpsey MLA is an Ulster Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast South who has twice served in the Northern Ireland Executive...
announced that prescription charges were to be phased out by April 2010, being first reduced to £3.00 in January 2009. This was widely accepted by the four main parties of the Northern Ireland Executive plus the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. The move will bring Northern Ireland in line with the Welsh system which has already abolished charges, and Scotland which plans to do the same. There is no indication as of yet whether or not England may follow suit or retain charges.
Ambulance Service
Northern Ireland also has its own dedicated Ambulance ServiceNorthern Ireland Ambulance Service
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service is the ambulance service that serves the whole of Northern Ireland. As with other ambulance services in the United Kingdom, it does not charge its patients directly for its services, but instead receives funding through general taxation...
.
See also
- Health & Social Care Business Services OrganisationHealth & Social Care Business Services OrganisationThe Health & Social Care Business Services Organisation was established in 2009 and is responsible for providing support services to various health and social work agencies in Northern Ireland.It was created from the now defunct Central Services Agency...
- List of government departments, their agencies and their ministers in Northern Ireland
- List of hospitals in Northern Ireland