NEWS

NIO Minister Matthew Patrick; Secretary of State, Hilary Benn MP; Cathy Harrison, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at the Department of Health; Health Minister Mike Nesbitt; deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly; Finance Minister John O'Dowd; Leah O’Donnell, Pharmacist at Carryduff Pharmacy; Marie Smith, Chair of Community Pharmacy NI. A major £42 million investment to replace paper prescriptions with a fully digital system across Northern Ireland has been unveiled as part o

Causeway Hospital, Coleraine The Northern Health and Social Care Trust has reaffirmed its commitment to Causeway Hospital in Coleraine as the facility marks its 25th anniversary. Speaking at a meeting of the Trust board at the hospital on Thursday, interim chief executive Suzanne Pullins said the Trust had published an update as it “continues to deliver on its vision” for Causeway Hospital. The Trust said Causeway Hospital “continues to play a vital role in our hospital netwo

An urgent regional appeal has been launched to recruit more foster carers for children with disabilities across Northern Ireland, as more than 100 young people remain waiting for vital short break support. Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has announced the first ever region-wide campaign for Short Breaks foster carers for children and young people with disabilities, amid growing demand across all five Health and Social Care Trust areas. There are currently 109 children and young

Patients across Northern Ireland who have spent years waiting for surgery and treatment are set to benefit from a major new funding commitment after Health Minister Mike Nesbitt confirmed £80 million will be ringfenced next year to expand elective care capacity and cut some of the health service’s longest waiting lists. The funding package, confirmed during a visit to the Mater Hospital’s Elective Overnight Stay Centre in Belfast, will support waiting list reduction work duri

Emergency Department at Antrim Area Hospital Emergency departments across Northern Ireland are becoming dangerously overcrowded as a result of a new ambulance handover policy designed to speed up patient transfers, according to frontline emergency medicine leaders. A snap survey carried out by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has revealed that more than half of Emergency Department Clinical Leads believe the policy is worsening conditions inside already stretche

Parents across Northern Ireland who have experienced the heartbreak of losing a baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy are set to receive formal recognition of their loss for the first time under new legislation approved at Stormont. Finance Minister John O’Dowd confirmed the Assembly has now approved the Baby Loss Certificate Regulations, paving the way for a new scheme expected to launch before the end of June. The move marks a major change for bereaved families who, until now,

Colette Sloan from Coleraine People across Northern Ireland are being urged not to ignore unusual moles or skin changes as the Northern Health and Social Care Trust marks Skin Cancer Awareness Month with a fresh warning about the dangers of delayed diagnosis. The Trust has teamed up with a local woman who discovered a suspicious mole after returning from holiday, as health professionals stress that early detection of skin cancer can save lives. Melanoma, while less common tha

L-R Fionnuala Walsh, Head of Funding UK Portfolio, The National Lottery Community Fund, Jacinta Linden, Co-Director of Together for Families, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, Paul Sweeney, Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee, The National Lottery Community Fund and Peter Toogood, Deputy Secretary, Social Care and Public Health Policy Group. Paper prescriptions are set to become a thing of the past in Northern Ireland under a major £42 million digital transformation programme

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn Northern Ireland’s struggling public services are set for a major shake-up after the UK Government released a further £102.6 million to fund wide-ranging reforms across healthcare, employment support, digital services and agriculture. The funding package includes a landmark £42 million project to replace Northern Ireland’s paper prescription system with a fully digital process — ending the manual handling of more than 45 million

Members of the Farm Families Health Checks team celebrates reaching its 30,000th health check with Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt and Fearghal McKinney, Head of British Heart Foundation in Northern Ireland. A Northern Ireland health programme delivering frontline care directly into rural communities has reached a major milestone after providing 30,000 on-the-spot health checks for farmers and farm families. The Farm Families Health Checks Programme, which has operated across N

Pictured during the Fostering 400 Bike Tour, left – right, are Shauna Garvin (Northern Trust), Councillor Jackson Minford, Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Marie McTaggart (Northern Trust) and foster carer Gareth Irvine, who led the Foster 400 bike tour. Hundreds of children across Northern Ireland are facing uncertainty as foster care services urgently appeal for at least 400 additional foster carers — with Ballymena becoming one of the key stops in a major awar

A care home provider has revealed staff were dismissed and others referred to professional bodies following the death of an 85-year-old resident at a Lisburn nursing home that later led to a criminal prosecution and £10,000 court fine. Healthcare Ireland, which also runs Slemish Care Home and Braefield Care Home in Ballymena, issued the statement after Healthcare Ireland (no.2) Limited appeared before Lisburn Magistrates Court over failings linked to the death of William Moor

Ballymena woman Gemma O’Hara A Ballymena woman who suffered a stroke at just 39 years old has spoken publicly about the “miracle” treatment that saved her life as pressure mounts on Northern Ireland’s Health Minister to deliver long-promised 24/7 thrombectomy services. Gemma O’Hara says she cannot bear to think what her life would look like today had she not received the emergency clot-removal procedure in time after collapsing shortly after returning home from a holiday in T

A major Northern Ireland-led medical trial has identified a promising new way to help some intensive care survivors recover at home after life-threatening illness, with researchers saying remote rehabilitation could improve quality of life while easing pressure on hospitals. The groundbreaking iRehab Trial — jointly led by researchers from Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast — has been published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA

More than 8,700 people living with or in remission from blood cancer in Northern Ireland could be affected by a major new programme designed to expose weaknesses, inconsistencies and gaps in cancer care for the first time in over 15 years. A large-scale audit and epidemiological review has now been launched by Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI (LLNI) and Blood Cancer UK, working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) at Queen’s University Belfast. The programme

Dr Martin Hanna, Consultant Paediatrician; Lesley Kennedy, Paediatric Asthma & Allergy Nurse Specialist and Anne Marie Campbell, Allergy Dietitian. Children waiting for specialist allergy care in the Northern Trust area are being seen faster after a series of additional evening clinics helped tackle lengthy paediatric waiting lists at Antrim Area Hospital. The extra clinics, funded by the Department of Health, were introduced specifically to reduce delays for children needing

Past participants who completed the Medical Administration Training Academy in preparation for employment in GP practices across Mid and East Antrim A free training programme aimed at helping local people secure jobs within GP practices across Mid and East Antrim is returning for a second consecutive year — but organisers say there is now just one week left to apply, with only a limited number of places remaining. The Medical Administration Training Academy, delivered by the

A growing crisis in home care provision across Northern Ireland is leaving hundreds of vulnerable people waiting for support, with rural communities in North Antrim facing some of the sharpest pressures, according to comments made at Stormont this week. Speaking during an Assembly debate on Tuesday, 12 May, TUV North Antrim MLA Timothy Gaston warned that the situation could no longer be softened or downplayed, describing the current state of domiciliary care as a “crisis”. He

Autism diagnoses among school-age children in Northern Ireland have reached their highest recorded level, with new figures revealing 18,472 pupils are now identified as autistic — while politicians and families warn support systems are becoming overwhelmed. The latest annual prevalence report published by the Department of Health shows autism prevalence among school-age children rose to 6.2% during the 2025/26 school year. That represents an increase of 0.3 percentage points

Professor Kenda Crozier, Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen's is pictured (second from left), accepting the ‘Best Student Experience’ award for Ambition to Success, at the Student Nursing Times Awards in London recently. Queen’s University Belfast has claimed two major national honours at one of the UK’s most prestigious student nursing award ceremonies, with judges praising the university’s “real world impact” and students’ passion for changing lives. The S