The new administration must take decisive action to improve health and care Healthcare is the largest public service in all UK nations1 and a totemic symbol of solidarity. Yet all four governments face deep concern over waiting times and healthcare staffing.23 None face a task quite as daunting as Northern Ireland’s newly formed government, now responsible for the health service with the longest waiting time in the UK and for a struggling social care sector that it manages much more directly than the other nations. The one ray of hope is that the underlying causes of these problems are at least partly understood—and the solutions partly known. Waiting times are alarming even compared with elsewhere in the UK. In December 2023, patients in England waited a median of 15 weeks for planned treatment.4 In Northern Ireland the median wait for an outpatient consultation was 50 weeks,5 and for inpatient treatment 58 weeks.6 Counting these separately, unlike in England, means that these average waits of around a year will often be experienced one after the other. …

中文翻译：

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北爱尔兰政府面临英国最长的健康问题清单

新政府必须采取果断行动，改善医疗保健。医疗保健是英国所有国家中最大的公共服务，也是团结的图腾象征。然而，所有四个政府都对等待时间和医疗保健人员配置深感担忧。23没有一个政府面临着像北爱尔兰新成立的政府那样艰巨的任务，该政府现在负责英国等待时间最长的医疗服务和陷入困境的社会护理部门它的管理比其他国家更直接。一线希望是这些问题的根本原因至少已被部分了解，并且解决方案也部分为人所知。即使与英国其他地方相比，等待时间也令人担忧。 2023 年 12 月，英格兰患者等待计划治疗的中位时间为 15 周。4 在北爱尔兰，等待门诊咨询的中位时间为 50 周，5 等待住院治疗的中位时间为 58 周。6 与英格兰不同，单独计算这些时间意味着这些平均大约一年的等待通常会一个接一个地经历。 ……