About 18% of the entire Northern I reland population now on NHS waiti ng lists as backlog – already the worst in the UK – continues to grow

Good morning

Today the News Letter reports the shocking news that about 18% of the entire Northern Ireland population are now on NHS waiting lists as the backlog – already the worst in the UK – continues to grow. Some 350,000 people are now on a waiting list for a first appointment with a hospital consultant.
It has also been revealed that Neonatal intensive care units are under “a lot of extra pressure” due to pregnant women going into early labour with coronavirus. The warning from the chair of the British Medical Association in Northern Ireland, Dr Tom Black follows successive appeals from leading health professionals over recent weeks for pregnant women to take up the offer of coronavirus vaccination urgently.
A long-serving former Alliance representative is tipping the SDLP to retain its Lagan Valley Assembly seat – leaving at least one of the three likely DUP candidates at risk. Trevor Lunn, who has sat as an independent MLA since leaving Alliance in March 2020, has expressed surprise that the DUP plans to add returning MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to the ballot paper for the Stormont elections in 2022.

Have a good afternoon

Michael Cousins

Acting Managing Editor

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