Healthy option

Robin Sheeran The Politics Show Northern Ireland

There is a need here - our need is greater than that in England and our actual funding is less in terms of our provision Michael McGimpsey

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When the Ulster Unionists opted to take on responsibility for the Health Service they made a deliberate decision to take on the highest-spending department in the Executive.

Running a health service that is free at the point of delivery is not a cheap option and the Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, says he needs more money urgently.

"There is a need here - our need is greater than that in England and our actual funding is less in terms of our provision," he insists.

So, is it true, as Mr McGimpsey claims, that the Health Service is not as well funded in Northern Ireland as it is in England?

Minister disagrees

The Finance Minister, Peter Robinson, has challenged Michael McGimpsey's claims.

He points to inefficiencies in the system and claims that hundreds of millions of pounds could be saved if the service learned to live within its means.

Mr Robinson recently told an Assembly committee, what was needed was "a better health service, not a more expensive one".

This week in Politics Show from Northern Ireland, Rosy Billingham looks at the reality behind the ministerial wrangle.

Patient endorsement

Barry Fox has a form of bone marrow cancer called multimialoma. He says his life has been saved by trial drug called Valcade that is not available on the NHS.

Muckamore Abbey Hospital helps patients return to the community

If he had not been one of the 21 people on the trial he would have had to pay £20,000, or do without.

"I was number 15 so there were no places and there are still no places to the best of my knowledge," he says, "so it's a sort of lottery in the National Health."

Question of priority

It is not just the "frontline" aspects of health provision that are affected by financial belt-tightening.

Muckamore Abbey Hospital near Antrim provides treatment for people with learning disabilities and supports them when they return to the community.

Joan Knowles regularly visits one patient at the hospital.

She says that the problem when it comes to belt-tightening and prioritising services is that someone always ends up at the bottom of the list.

Moreover, the programme of getting patients out of hospital and into the community is being badly delayed.

"The difficulty is that the people with learning difficulties are not able to give voice to their needs," she tells Rosy.

It is not unusual for ministers in any government to have to fight their department's corner when funding is divided up.

The rivalry between the DUP and UUP in Stormont's compulsory coalition makes the process all the more intense.

Jim Fitzpatrick presents Politics Show in Northern Ireland

Be sure to join presenter Jim Fitzpatrick for Politics Show from Northern Ireland - this Sunday 25 November 2007 at 12:00 GMT on BBC One.

You get a second chance to see the programme again that night, at 22:55 BST on BBC One.

Let us know what you think.

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