Setting the Scene

To start investigating the state of local healthcare in the Northern Ireland, I looked through various articles and started picking out key words and phrases. I created a mind map to begin to draw connections between the various topics of conversation surrounding our local healthcare.

Local Healthcare Mind Map

Recent Issues in Healthcare

WHAT ISSUES ARE NEW IN MINISTERS IN-TRAYS?

NI politics: What issues are in new ministers' in-trays?

I found this article detailing new issues in NI politics, with a section focusing on healthcare. I felt that this list is a great starting point for my research. The article outlines these main issues:

• Pay parity as Northern Ireland health and social care staff remain the lowest paid in the UK and are yet to be offered a pay uplift for 2023-24.
• Waiting lists
• Lack of funding
• Lack of nurses and training places
• General practice is on its knees; its survival requires the continued roll-out of multi-disciplinary teams, including physiotherapists and social workers.
• Another big issue is the creation of a dedicated women's health strategy, like elsewhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, which would encompass and refocus gynaecological services.

Of course, I would not have the capacity to implement pay parity in Northern Ireland through an app. However, issues like waiting lists and general practice crisis is definitely food for thought.

Healthcare Crisis in NI

From bad to worse: Northern Ireland's care crisis

This is a fabulously thorough article published by the BMA, detailing the healthcare crisis we are facing in Northern Ireland today.