Plans for NI summit on health
Julian Smith wants politicians to make series of commitments
The Northern Ireland Secretary is to ask the region's five main parties to make a series of commitments to the region's struggling health service.
Julian Smith will make the request at a 'health summit' meeting he is convening at Stormont as part of efforts to restore the devolved institutions.
He will ask the five parties to:
- Commit to paying health workers the same as counterparts in the rest of the UK parity;
- Agree a three-year pay deal;
- Commit to safer staffing levels;
-Deliver 1,000 new nursing and midwifery undergraduate places over three years;
- Develop an action plan to tackle spiralling waiting times.