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Northern Ireland: Health sector known to be at risk of failure since 2018

A 2018 document reveals concerns were raised that ‘underfunded’ public health sector would collapse in an emergency

By Ruby Lott-Lavigna
Northern Ireland: Health sector known to be at risk of failure since 2018
Wooden pallets celebrate the NHS in Belfast on 5 May 2020, during the first Covid lockdown | Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Image
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There was a high risk that Northern Ireland's health and social care sector would not be able to manage an emergency and that financial resources were lacking, a document from 2018 has revealed.

The 2018-19 risk register for Northern Ireland was shown during the Covid-19 inquiry on Monday, where Michael McBride, the chief medical officer for Northern Ireland from 2006, gave evidence.

Chief counsel Hugo Keith asked McBride whether “there was a significant level of concern” about this risk and if a lot “had to be done on quite a number of fronts in order to make sure that the risks [could] be properly mitigated?”

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