The health system in Northern Ireland: How is it structured and who makes decisions about COVID-19?
This article explains how the health system in Northern Ireland is structured, and who is responsible for COVID-19 planning and decision making.
[This article is part of the COVID-19 Information Dissemination (COVID-19 ID) Project — a partnership between Community Development and Health Network (CDHN) and FactCheckNI. Its aim is to improve people’s health literacy about COVID-19 by providing accurate and up-to-date information which will increase knowledge, understanding and confidence and enable people to make good health decisions.]
Summary
There is a huge amount of collaboration between health bodies around COVID-19 in Northern Ireland. But the division of responsibilities can be understood as follows:
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- Health policy is devolved to Northern Ireland, but there is a focus on coordination with the wider UK and the Republic of Ireland.
- The Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for coordinating the overall response.
- The Department of Health sets COVID-19 policy, regulations and health strategy.
- The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) commissions services.
- The Public Health Authority (PHA) collects information, issues advice and communicates key messages.
- Health Trusts manage the day to day running of hospitals, health centres, residential homes and other health and social care facilities. The Northern Ambulance Service is also a Trust.
