@niconfederation.bsky.social
NICON is the voice of organisations working across Northern Ireland's integrated health and social care system. We are the only membership body for all HSC organisations in NI. Part of @nhsconfed.bsky.social https://www.nhsconfed.org/nicon
The eighth webinar in our ‘Grasping the Nettle’ series is now available to watch online! It focused on the recently announced reset plans for health and social care.
🌿 Watch here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
More Grasping the Nettle webinars will be announced soon!
We have issued a statement on behalf of our members in response to the plan to 'reset' health and social care in Northern Ireland, which was announced this afternoon by the Health Minister.
➡️ www.nhsconfed.org/news/health-...
Image advertising the details of the webinar
New #GraspingTheNettle webinar:
🌿 Reset plan for health and social care - Addressing our financial challenges
📅 4pm to 5.30pm, 21 July 2025
📍 Zoom
🎫 Book: www.nhsconfed.org/events/nicon...
We'll hear from DoH Permanent Secretary Mike Farrar & NHS Confederation Director of Policy Layla McCay.
The seventh webinar in our ‘Grasping the Nettle’ series is now available to watch online! It focused on one of the most pressing concerns for the HSC system – waiting lists.
🌿Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg68...
More Grasping the Nettle webinars will be announced soon!
New #GraspingTheNettle webinar announced:
🌿 Waiting List Initiatives – Understanding the Priorities
📅 10am to 11.30am, Thursday 5 June 2025
📍 Zoom
🎫 Book now: www.nhsconfed.org/events/nicon...
Our Director Heather Moorhead is leading a discussion this morning at the ECHAlliance 5 Nations Ecosystem Gathering, which will consider ‘Is social care the problem or the solution?’.
Full details here: echalliance.com/events-healt...
Today we celebrate International Nurses' Day 2025! On behalf of our members, we want to say a huge thank you to all the nurses working in Northern Ireland.
The contribution you make to patients' lives is invaluable 🌟
Our sincere thanks to Mike for taking the time to join us, provide insights and answer questions from our members and stakeholders.
🎥 The full interview reel can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4_Q...
Finally, on leadership and decision-making:
"We should be empowering ourselves. I'm a big believer in distributed leadership, but people in the chain of distributed leadership need to be able to see the big picture... It requires creating that context and then devolving that authority."
On innovation and health & life sciences:
• NI's small population provides significant opportunities for strategic industry partnerships to address some of our burning problems
• Such investment could alleviate constraints on the public purse - But will require leadership and clinical empowerment
On the role of the VCSE sector:
• VCS orgs play a vital role, connecting with people at the community level and helping manage conditions that would otherwise drive patients towards general practice: They must be seen as an equal partner
• Longer-term VCS contracts would be mutually beneficial
On primary care & the shift left:
• Shifting resources towards primary care can help manage the % increase in the overall draw on NI’s spend
• Reducing unwarranted clinical variability at the first point-of-contact and scaling initiatives like MDTs & GP Federations are important areas of focus
On staff experience:
• The quality of line management and fairness in the pay system are major factors impacting staff morale: We must communicate our efforts to improve in these areas and ensure staff feel valued
• Colleagues must not be blamed for raising concerns around unmanageable workloads
On workforce:
• Workforce planning is central to any HSC reset: It must be informed by practice to ensure staff are appropriately skilled and deployed to meet both current & future demands
📒 Our workforce report outlines opportunities to address these challenges: tinyurl.com/nicon-no-tim...
On clinical engagement & empowerment:
• "No clinician goes into work to do the wrong thing": We must move away from a culture of blame & create conditions whereby clinicians are empowered to be the best they possibly can be
• Clinical buy-in = Alignment with a shared purpose & vision for the HSC
On place-based approaches:
• Embedding a place-based approach into the HSC operating model will assist with changing the pattern of utilisation - Facilitating the implementation of Bengoa & reducing waiting times
• This may involve formal arrangements for Trust decision-making to optimise assets
On demand management:
• Demand is outstripping funding in health and care systems globally – Continuing on the current trajectory is unsustainable
• Tackling demand involves both supporting the public to stay healthy & ensuring that patients can access the right services at the right time
On prevention, outcomes and public & patient engagement:
• "Connecting to people on their own health is the solution" to implementing the shift from treatment to prevention
• Yet addressing waiting lists must also be a priority: Time spent waiting for treatment is a major determinant of outcomes
On culture and collaboration:
• “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”: Creating a culture of ‘one team’ is key to implementing NI's strategies
• True collective working entails routine collaboration across Trust boundaries, utilising estates, facilities & workforce effectively
Mike on system working:
• System working is about more than just the horizontal relationships between HSC bodies; it involves working with government departments, local authorities, primary care and the public
• It also entails ensuring that health and care spending supports a wider agenda
NICON were delighted to provide the opportunity last week for over 150 members to meet the new DoH interim Permanent Secretary, Mike Farrar @health-ni.gov.uk
🧵A short thread of insights from the session, covering a wide range of system issues:
First up - We asked Mike, "Why Northern Ireland?"
A big congratulations to our colleagues in the Western
@westernhsctrust.bsky.social & Southern HSC Trusts who went live with encompass today.
All HSC Trusts in NI are now using one digital integrated care record system for the first time. This is a huge achievement, well done to everyone involved!🌟
Our Spokesperson, Mark Taylor, was on Evening Extra last night to discuss the new waiting list initiatives. Mark welcomed the plans, while recognising the challenge in resourcing them given the immense pressure the HSC system is under.
📻 Listen from 7.40: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
A picture of Health Minister Mike Nesbitt with text beside it which reads: “These planned investments reflect the Executive’s ringfencing of up to £215m in this year’s Health budget for waiting list activities – in line with the finalised Programme for Government. “This breaks down into £85m for red flag and time critical care; £80m for building up capacity to address the long-standing mismatch with demand; and up to £50m to start tackling the backlog in care. “Investment at this level will need to be sustained for at least five years to bring hospital waiting times down to acceptable levels. We are only at the foothills of what will be a long uphill trek.”
The Health Minister has announced a package of initiatives to tackle hospital care backlogs, including a Waiting List Reimbursement Scheme.
➡️Read more: www.health-ni.gov.uk/news/nesbitt-launches-waiting-list-initiatives
Join us at #NHSConfedExpo and learn about tried and tested strategies from organisations that have improved patient outcomes, streamlined care pathways, and driven service transformation.
Book your pass: bit.ly/3YUkNZt
New #GraspingTheNettle webinar:
🌿 Interview with Mike Farrar - Plans, Priorities & People: Join us to hear from Mike Farrar in his new role as interim Permanent Secretary for @health-ni.gov.uk
📅 2pm to 3.30pm, Tuesday 29 April 2025, Zoom
📍 Zoom
🎫 Book now: www.nhsconfed.org/events/nicon...
💭How can we make sure that the NHS can serve everyone effectively, across all age groups? 🤔
This week, @ConfedMatt.bsky.social is joined by @rachel-p.bsky.social to discuss how the NHS should work towards doing just that. 🏥
Find out more on the latest episode of #HealthontheLine, out now. 🎧📲
This morning, we put out a statement on the draft HSC budget for NI, warning that the proposed funding for Health and Social Care could result in service cuts equivalent to the loss of 10,000 staff.
Read our full statement here: www.nhsconfed.org/news/health-...
As LGBT+ History Month draws to a close, we’re pleased to launch our LGBTQ+ inclusion hub 🏳🌈
It includes a range of resources to support you to embed LGBTQ+ inclusion within your health and care organisations.
Take a look 👇
buff.ly/4kh6pnU
#LGBTplusHM #LGBTplusHM25
You have until midnight tonight to self nominate to the RCM Board! Becoming a Board member for the RCM is a fantastic opportunity, and is both a challenging and rewarding commitment in equal measure. Learn more and self nominate: https://buff.ly/3Ehp8z4
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