NI health review: Pay and politics dominate the news in 2024

It would not be a Northern Ireland end of year review without mention of a new Executive.

In February, Robin Swann returned as health minister, but becoming an MP in July triggered his exit and Mike Nesbitt’s appointment as his successor.

There was a sprinkling of positivity when – in what felt like a new direction – the new health minister made his first speech in the job in a community centre for vulnerable adults.

On paper, it marked a shift of emphasis toward tackling health inequalities and greater spend on community care.

However, transformation requires funding and much wrangling followed – culminating in the minister rejecting the November monitoring round worth £350m to his department.

He said it was still £100m short of what his department needed to settle health’s pay dispute.

Come December, the Department of Health (DoH) received £8.8bn in the Stormont budget, with Nesbitt describing it as a “very challenging allocation” but adding that he was accepting the challenge.

Earlier in the month, the minister published his three-year plan which according to the DoH would require executive support and funding if targets were to be met.

There was detailed scrutiny on a range of issues by Stormont’s health committee, with a major focus on Belfast’s stalled new maternity hospital.

They said additional funding was hard to justify when the new maternity building continues to haemorrhage funds.