Department of Health Statement on Reset and Recovery Plan

In July 2026, the Department of Health set out a Reset and Recovery plan to reform the Health and Social Care System (HSC), establish financial stability and improve health outcomes.

A DoH spokesperson said: “The Department’s Reset Plan is tied strongly into prevention and earlier intervention, moving care from hospitals to community, while using data to target resources better and reduce unwarranted variability in care across the HSC.

“The Reset and Recovery plan has already delivered savings worth over £300million in 2025/26 (and over £200m in 2024/25) but significant challenges remain for the HSC as a whole if we are to address current financial pressures, while delivering service improvements over the longer term as we shift the focus of care from hospital to community under our Neighbourhood plans.

“Our commitment also remains to reduce health inequalities through this approach.

“The HSC is currently spending more than £2 million a day over budget so the Reset and Recovery plan aims to restore financial balance, deliver better value for money, and shift investment towards services in the community rather than hospitals, where most funding is currently spent.

“With fundamental elements of the new approach now in place, the HSC has been tasked with delivering 4% cash releasing and efficiency savings this financial year, as part of a three-year recovery plan.

“While Trusts have been developing savings plans since January, the Department appreciates that this will be a challenging and ongoing process. Trusts will be supported as they deliver the outworkings of these plans.

“At Trust level, this will include a vacancy control process, reducing temporary staffing (including bank, agency and locum staff) and setting the appropriate number of hospital beds as more care is delivered in the community, closer to people’s homes.

“Trusts will also standardise care pathways, shorten hospital stays and reorganise services to strengthen and sustain vulnerable services.

“There will be a reduction in escalated beds, creating a more flexible bed base that can respond to changing demand. Trusts will work more closely together on workforce, finance, procurement and partnership decisions through the new Committees in Common structure to ensure every pound is used effectively.

“Releasing resources in this way will enable investment in primary care, voluntary sector and better care for older people in their own homes.”

Gillian Lewis, Head of the Northern Ireland Collective, said: “For the past 13 months, we have worked closely with the Department of Health to ensure Voluntary and Community Health Sector are recognised as partners in shaping and delivering Reset and Reform.

“This partnership is vital to the wellbeing of communities across Northern Ireland, many of whom rely on VCSE organisations for local health and wellbeing support.

“At a time of significant financial pressure, stronger collaboration between the VCSE sector and the Department is more important than ever to improve outcomes and maximise the value of limited resources.”

While the Executive has not yet agreed a budget for 2026-27, based on current proposals, DoH is facing a funding gap of around £800 million, of which around £280 million relates to 2026-27 pay awards and the introduction of the real living wage.

Within the Four Nation NHS jurisdictions, Northern Ireland falls behind in terms of key health metrics such as elective waiting times, access to primary care and ambulance handover times. This cannot be fully attributed to Northern Ireland’s current funding level or demand on the health and social care system.

Meanwhile, over the last decade Health has been increasingly drawing more resource as a percentage of total expenditure from the total Northern Ireland Executive’s allocation although this has flattened considerably in the last two years.

The spokesperson added that if the current trend continues on resource drawn for Health, it would lead to an ever-increasing percentage of Northern Ireland’s total budget being spent on health and care. This is clearly not a sustainable position.

The Reset Plan for Health and Social Care is key to helping to deliver the necessary changes to ensure sustainability, access and capacity for the future.

(Down News © 2026.)