BBC study of NHS performance reveals that NI is one of the worst regions in the UK

Oct 18, 2017, 08:49 AM

A major BBC analysis of NHS performance reveals that Northern Ireland is one of the worst regions in the UK. The BBC's NHS Tracker - launched today - finds that health trusts here are consistently not hitting targets on waiting times for A E, cancer treatment and planned operations. And they've been failing for years - in fact, you have to go back to 2013 when the health service here was hitting key hospital targets 25% of the time. So what are those targets? A&E: 95% of patients to be seen in under four hours - that's not happening. Cancer: 95% to be seen in 62 days - that's not happening. Planned operations: 55% to be carried out in under 13 weeks - that's not happening either. Currently there are over 12,000 local people waiting for a routine operation in Northern Ireland. Why is the NHS in Northern Ireland performing so badly and what can be done to improve the situation? Stephen spoke to Belfast GP, Dr George O'Neill, and trade unionist John Patrick Clayton from Unison.