{"id":391385,"date":"2026-01-26T14:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/391385\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:43:12","slug":"northern-irelands-300m-private-healthcare-spend-draining-capacity-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/391385\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland\u2019s \u00a3300m private healthcare spend \u2018draining capacity\u2019 \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over \u00a3300m spent by NI health trusts on private providers in the last five years is \u201cdraining capacity\u201d from the health service, a trade union has warned.<\/p>\n

UNISON, the largest trade union in the health service<\/a>, said that \u00a3302m was paid out to private providers between April 2020 and April 2025, even as waiting lists remained among the worst in the UK.<\/p>\n

Describing the private sector as \u201ca major feature\u201d of the Executive\u2019s efforts to reduce waiting times in Northern Ireland, UNISON claimed that private providers were \u201ccherry-picking\u201d lower-risk, healthier, and often wealthier patients.<\/p>\n

Calling for an end to \u201cshort-term private workarounds\u201d that divert \u201cscarce public funding,\u201d the union said it was time for a \u201cdecisive shift\u201d to rebuild capacity in the health service \u2013 pointing to efforts in Scotland as an example.<\/p>\n

\"‘No<\/a>\"Stormont<\/a><\/p>\n

Regional Secretary Patricia McKeown also questioned the lack of transparency around health service decision making.<\/p>\n

\u201cVested interests that see healthcare<\/a> as an opportunity for profit have a different agenda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big questions for us is which agenda is winning out and who is really taking the decisions?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to oppose privatisation and profiteering with all the means at our disposal. So too should the people we elect.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany opportunities to get it right have been missed and bad decisions have been imposed on us, mostly because of Stormont\u2019s<\/a> failure to agree, stay in government and work collectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cAs a union, we have consistently demonstrated that we know how to establish and work in meaningful partnerships to deliver quality healthcare and justice for the workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for our government to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Department of Health spokesperson said that using the independent sector was \u201ca necessary and pragmatic part of any credible strategy\u201d to reduce waiting lists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows HSC patients to continue receiving care free at the point of delivery, while unlocking additional capacity to meet levels of demand that the HSC alone cannot currently absorb,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

They added that it allowed for \u201crobust planned treatments\u201d without the pressures of emergency demand and offered \u201cvaluable lessons\u201d on productivity, pathways and efficient use of theatres and workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe independent sector will remain a feature of the system as a matter of public choice, and the priority should be to use it intelligently to support equitable access, faster treatment, and a stronger overall health system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt spoke of progress in reducing waiting times for hip and knee replacement surgery in the South West Acute Hospital.<\/p>\n

\"UNISONUNISON Regional Secretary, Patricia McKeown. PICTURE: UNISON <\/p>\n

He said this was achieved by \u201cutilising independent sector capacity\u201d alongside the improvements in theatre efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy improving the way theatres are used and making full use of available capacity, including the independent sector, we are reducing long waits and helping people regain mobility and quality of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last year, further use of the private sector included extending a cross-border treatment scheme across Europe \u2013 where NI patients on waiting lists can claim back the cost of procedures from the Department of Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over \u00a3300m spent by NI health trusts on private providers in the last five years is \u201cdraining capacity\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,69223,2960,104,10856,56,147442,54,55],"class_list":["post-391385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-and-social-care","tag-healthcare","tag-nhs","tag-stormont","tag-uk","tag-unison","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}