Southern Trust under 'tremendous pressure', Chief Executive

Addressing the board of the Southern HSC Trust last Thursday (September 26), she commented: “Across HSC in Northern Ireland, we are under tremendous financial pressure.

“Certainly the Minister is very cognisant of the fact that despite recent funding from the Westminster Government, there’s still an outstanding gap across public services up £267m, and we have been working our way through our plans, basically, to try and maintain ourselves within budget, within the context of all of that.

“We know that all Trusts in Northern Ireland, like ourselves, are struggling to maintain productivity.

“A lot of this is being compromised by the huge demand on the emergency services in relation to unscheduled care, because it’s the same teams who provide diagnostics and investigations, whether you’re presenting through unscheduled care, or through scheduled care.

“On a daily basis, a balancing act has to be made in relation to that.

“So our performance has improved, certainly over the course of the last year, by 10%. Our figures were among the highest in the region, but we still have a way to go.

“And we are cognisant of the fact that we have significant waits in various areas (…), in relation to ED waits, the 62-day cancer target and mental health waits in particular.”

Dr O’Kane added that with regards to industrial action, consultants have agreed pay deals.

"We know that there’s huge shortages of social work staff across Northern Ireland, and there have been industrial actions in a number of the Trusts to date,” she said.

“We’re also making changes across the Trust, and we know that our [electronic care record] Encompass ‘go live’ date is May 8.

Dr O’Kane also commented on the resignation in the Belfast Trust of the chief executive, and extend the Trust’s thanks to Cathy Jack for her work in HSC over the years.

“She worked in HSC nearly 40 years, and [offered] professional support to us in the Southern Trust at various points,” she stated.