New framework aims to reshape nursing and midwifery staffing across Northern Ireland
- Love Ballymena
- 13 minutes ago
- 3 min read
(L-R): DoH Permanent Secretary Mike Farrar; Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, Chief Nursing Officer, Professor Maria McIlgorm and Katy Rennick, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer.
A major overhaul of how nursing and midwifery staffing is planned and delivered across Northern Ireland has been unveiled, as Health Minister Mike Nesbitt launches a refreshed policy framework designed to strengthen patient safety and support an overstretched workforce.
The updated Delivering Care Policy Framework sets out a regionally consistent approach to ensuring the right staff, with the right skills, are in the right place at the right time — a cornerstone of safe and effective care.
Responding to mounting pressures
The framework’s refresh comes more than a decade after its original publication in 2014, during which time Northern Ireland’s health system has faced intensifying challenges.
These include an ageing population, increasingly complex care needs, growing waiting lists, rising demand for mental health services, and persistent health inequalities — all against a backdrop of constrained budgets.
Launching the updated guidance, the Minister said the scale of change made a review unavoidable.
“In the last 12 years since the Framework was first published our Health and Social Care system has faced a growing list of significant pressures,” he said.
“Against that backdrop, a re-examination of the Framework was necessary to ensure it remains fit for purpose.”
He added that robust, evidence-based workforce planning will be critical to maintaining both safety and quality in the years ahead.
“Ensuring we have the right staff, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time, therefore remains fundamental to maintaining safety and quality and in meeting future demand.”
A system-wide shift in accountability
A key focus of the refreshed framework is clearer accountability — from frontline wards through to senior leadership.
New measures aim to:
Strengthen reporting mechanisms
Promote shared accountability across the system
Reinforce the use of evidence in decision-making
Health and Social Care Trusts and independent employers will retain responsibility for operational workforce planning, with the framework supporting more responsive, locally informed staffing decisions.
This shift is designed to ensure workforce planning reflects real patient need on the ground, rather than relying solely on centralised models.
Supporting staff and future reform
Chief Nursing Officer Professor Maria McIlgorm, who led the refresh through a dedicated task group established in autumn 2023, highlighted the central role of nursing and midwifery within the health system.
“Within the Health & Social Care system, Nursing and Midwifery represent the largest segment of the workforce,” she said.
“Ensuring the right staff, equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, and professional values, and deployed effectively, is critical to meeting evolving challenges.”
She emphasised that long-term sustainability will depend on improving recruitment, retention, and staff wellbeing, alongside clearer career pathways.
The updated framework is also intended to support preparations for potential safe staffing legislation, signalling a broader shift towards more structured workforce governance.
Aligning with wider transformation plans
The policy is closely aligned with wider reform efforts, including the Department of Health’s Reset Plan and its five-year vision for nursing and midwifery.
The Minister said the framework embeds safe staffing not just as a professional expectation, but as a strategic priority across the entire health system.
“This Framework makes clear that safe and effective staffing is not only a professional standard, but a strategic priority embedded throughout our system’s governance.”
Read the full framework
The full Delivering Care Policy Framework is available here:
At a glance
New Delivering Care Framework launched for Northern Ireland
First major update since original policy in 2014
Aims to improve safe staffing across nursing and midwifery
Responds to pressures including ageing population and rising demand
Introduces clearer accountability from ward to board level
Strengthens evidence-based workforce planning
Supports staff wellbeing, recruitment, and retention
Aligns with wider health system transformation plans
Prepares groundwork for potential safe staffing legislation