A REPORT by the Departments of Health in the Republic and Northern Ireland has recommended greater cross-Border co-operation in tackling a variety of health issues ranging from obesity and suicide prevention to child protection.
The report says that by both departments working together to address major health issues “significant additional benefits to the population of each jurisdiction can be achieved, which could not be achieved by each system working in isolation”.
The North-South feasibility study makes 37 recommendations, including 10 which it says should be taken forward as a priority because they “offer the opportunity for a more immediate impact on patient and client care”.
These include that:
- the two departments and the relevant agencies should promote joint programmes and approaches to tackle obesity, positive mental health and suicide prevention;
- a collaborative cross-Border model of care for patients with paediatric and congenital cardiac conditions should be developed;
- the radiotherapy capacity in Altnagelvin hospital in Derry should be developed to improve access to radiotherapy for patients in the whole northwest;
- the departments should explore the potential to develop, on a joint basis, a service for those organ transplants that are less common and may require the critical mass of a combined population to be sustainable;
- they should continue to take measures to improve child protection and work to formalise cross-Border foster care arrangements to deliver better services.
While the report was finalised 18 months ago it has not been published as a result of differences of opinion on its value between the health departmments North and South. However, its recommendations have now been revealed by the Centre for Cross-Border Studies blog, A Note from the Next Door Neighbours.
The Northern Minister for Health, Michael McGimpsey, in his most recent statement on the issue to the Northern Ireland Assembly on May 17th, said he saw no opportunities in the report for “co-operation that delivers practical results and benefits for the population of Northern Ireland”.
He added that his budget was “smaller than is required to run the health service in Northern Ireland, and I do not have money left over for extras unless I am certain they will deliver benefits”.
The Department of Health in Dublin confirmed recently that the study began in 2007 and was completed in 2009. “While the study has been approved by the Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, it is understood that it has not been endorsed by the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland,” it said.
However, it claimed it would be “wrong to assume that the non-publication of this study implies that there is no co-operation on health matters”. It said some of these areas included radiotherapy services, paediatric congenital cardiac services, child protection, health promotion, cancer research and suicide prevention,