Stormont budget: Additional funding for Department of Health

The big black financial hole in health and social care has been filled in a little bit – but not nearly enough, according to the Department of Health.

From today, health has an additional £122m at its disposal that is in addition to the £7.8bn it received in the overall budget.

There was also £34m allocated to waiting lists in May – a long way off from the £215m that the former minister Robin Swann said was required.

These figures do not address what’s required to cover pay deals next year – that will need approximately an additional £200m.

So, what do these new figures mean?

Basically, some services will still be cut – some less “catastrophic” than others.

We can expect to see fewer domiciliary care packages, available hospital beds and operating lists.

While there is little wriggle room at the moment for services and staff – there’ll be even less in the future.

Health inequalities are already evident in communities across the piece – this will make a bad situation even worse.

Critics have argued that the health department needs to produce plans with targets.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt will need to start prioritising and imaginatively thinking outside the box.