NURSING staff have called for the return of the five-party Executive in a bid to tackle the "crisis" in the Northern Ireland healthcare system.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Congress passed a motion calling for all political parties and the UK government to "commit to the immediate formation of a fully-functioning Executive and Assembly".
Fiona Devlin, chair of the RCN NI board, said "no priority is more important than the health and well-being of the people of Northern Ireland".
Speaking at the RCN Congress in Glasgow, she said nursing staff are concerned about "the impact of the lack of political leadership and accountability for the health and social care system".
"We need a fully-functioning Executive and Assembly to make the decisions we all know are desperately needed to address the escalating crisis with which we are now confronted, not least in relation to safe staffing, service transformation and fair pay," she said.
"Currently, none of these issues can be addressed.
"The much-needed multi-year health budget that was agreed earlier this year meant that, at last, some degree of long-term planning could take place to address these issues, rather than fire-fighting on a year-by-year basis.
"That budget has been lost and we’re left with an emergency budget that will barely keep the system ticking over for a few months."
Ms Devlin said with no Executive and a health minister "unable to make key decisions, there is also a real danger that our members will receive no pay award for 2022-2023".
"This would take Northern Ireland nursing staff out of pay parity with England and Wales once again, precisely the circumstances that led to strike action over two years ago," she said.
It comes as a senior consultant warned that prolonged waits in emergency departments across the north could be costing lives.
Earlier this week more than 540 patients were waiting more than 12 hours for beds in A&E departments - despite ministerial targets that indicate nobody should have to wait more than 12 hours to be treated, discharged or admitted to hospital in Northern Ireland.
Dr Sean McGovern, consultant in emergency medicine at Ulster Hospital, told the BBC it would be "foolhardy" to suggest these long waits "couldn’t cost lives" as compromising the standard of critical care on a daily basis poses "inevitable risk".
He said it was "very common unfortunately" that patients have to wait more than 12 hours for a bed.
"It is very challenging for patients and staff, and it has adverse effects aside from those who are waiting because it affects our emergency response times as well," he said.
Dr McGovern also voiced concern about the "burgeoning numbers of patients on waiting lists, we have 650,000 plus patients waiting for elective care".
