Northern Ireland: Extra Stormont cash 'not enough to fix health issues'

Peter May is the permanent secretary at the Department of Health

A senior civil servant has warned that any financial settlement arising from a return to power sharing would still not be enough to tackle the issues facing the health service.

Peter May is running the Department of Health in the absence of a minister.

The permanent secretary said that any extra money would be mostly consumed by "pay and overspend pressures".

The Stormont government collapsed in early 2022 due to the DUP's protest against post-Brexit trade rules.

Mr May was speaking at a conference on Friday for finance professionals working in the health service.

'Limits on what we can do'

"The reality is that in health and social care, we will never have enough money to do everything that we want," he said.

"The competing demands for extra funding cannot all be met, not now and not in the foreseeable future."

Delegates were told that priority areas for investment included waiting lists, workforce, social care, technology and the introduction of multi-disciplinary teams in primary care.

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Mr May said: "There will inevitably be limits on what we can do. Choices will have to be made and priorities agreed.

"That's a central reason why we need political leadership, mature public debate and collective decision-making."

Speaking earlier in the year, Mr May said the health service is currently facing unfunded spending pressures of £472m, of which £375m relates to a staff pay claim matching NHS England.