If you live in Northern Ireland
Before
you try to influence health care services in your area, it’s a good
idea to try and understand how they work.
Find out how Health and Social Care is organised in Northern
Ireland, and how you can influence decision making and change.
Get heard in Northern Ireland
There are several ways to add your voice to decision making in
Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland
the HSC has created
Engage. Engage is the
online home for PPE (sometimes referred to in Northern Ireland as
stakeholder involvement), within Health and Social Care. Engage
should be your first port of call – but you may find that some of
the information needs updating.
If Engage doesn’t
give you the information you need to get involved then ask you
GP surgery if they
have a patient group.
You can visit the
website of your local
Health and Social
Care Trust. The Trusts have a duty to involve you, and
you should find details of how they do this on their website.
If you have a
specific issue or campaign in mind, you may also want to consider
writing to your Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). You
can find about MLAs and how you can contact them by visiting
niassembly.gov.uk or calling
the Northern Ireland Assembly on 028 9052 133.
Health care structures in Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland the NHS is referred to as the HSC (short for
Health and Social Care).
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has
over all authority for health and social care services. Services
are commissioned by the Health and Social Care Board and provided
by five health and Social Care Trusts - Belfast, South Eastern,
Southern, Northern and Western. Ambulance Services in
Northern Ireland are provided by the NI Ambulance Trust.
I am a patient and taking part in these activities allows me to give something back to the community which has supported me.
Find out more
The
Department of Health, Social Services
and Public Safety is one of 11 Northern Ireland Government
Departments. It has three main business
responsibilities:
- HSC: policy and legislation for hospitals, family practitioner
services and community health and personal social services
- Public Health: policy, legislation and administrative action to
promote and protect the health and well-being of the
population
- Public Safety: policy and legislation for fire and rescue
services
The HSC provides health services, and
social care services such as home care services, family and
children's services, day care services and social work
services. It does this through its role in
overseeing the work of the Health and Social Care Board.
The
Health and Social Care Board
is responsible for commissioning services. It does this
through its five Local Commissioning Groups (LCGs). These
cover the same geographical areas as the Trusts, and focus on
planning and resourcing of services for these trusts. It also
takes the lead in managing resources and monitoring the performance
within the five Health and Social Care Trusts.
The Board is also directly responsible for managing services
which are not provided by Health and Social Care Trusts – these are
GPs, dentists, opticians and community pharmacists.
The five
Trusts provide
health and social services across Northern Ireland. While the Board
commissions services, it’s the Trusts that actually provide them
‘on the ground’. Each Trust manages its own staff and
services and controls its own budget.
The
Public Health Agency (PHA)
was established in April 2009. It is the major regional
organisation for health protection and health and social wellbeing
improvement. It is committed to addressing health inequalities.