TWO academics involved in attempts to overhaul the Northern Ireland health service have castigated politicians over their "unwillingness" to make changes that will lead to long-term improvements.
Professor Deirdre Heenan of Ulster University was an adviser on the Transforming Your Care reform programme published in 2011, while Professor John Appleby of the Nuffield Trust in London was commissioned to head up a review in 2005.
They pointed to a string of independent reports on the north's health service dating back to 2001 - with all recommending a reduction in acute hospitals and streamlining of services.
"In the light of these reviews and reports, there appears to be considerable consensus across health and social care about what is required to deliver the necessary reform and the consequences of maintaining the status quo," they wrote.
"What is much less clear is how to achieve this. There is a difficult backdrop: austerity, increasing demand, rising expectations, and political uncertainty.
"Political leaders show an unwillingness to move away from short-term parish-pump politics to long-term processes that deliver better outcomes."
The joint analysis comes a week after the Department of Health received a £40 million bailout from Stormont budget re-allocations to help plug £70m worth of proposed cuts to frontline services.
The academics warned that the collapse of the devolved institutions has caused important reforms to be "mothballed".
"Northern Ireland’s NHS has an enviably thorough blueprint for action – and a lot of catching up to do. The public should not put up with further delays," they said.
