UUP wants single Northern Ireland healthcare body to reform ‘broken’ system

Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann wants Northern Ireland’s health trusts to be merged into a single body in an overhaul of the healthcare system.

The party’s manifesto says that to reform the region’s “broken” healthcare system the UUP would merge the five health and social care trusts and put in place an independent chief executive of the NHS in Northern Ireland.

The party also vows to secure the “best possible deal” for the region in the event of a “bungled Brexit deal”.

“Despite having potentially the most to lose from a bungled Brexit deal, Northern Ireland remains by far the least prepared of any UK region,” the manifesto says.

It adds: “This issue is so important to all our futures that we need the best deal, not just any deal, or worse, no deal.”

Legacy issues are mentioned with the UUP vowing to “vehemently oppose efforts to rewrite the reality of the past and tackle unfair aspersions cast against legitimate actions of our security forces”.

A single education system is also one the party’s key issues in the eight-page document.

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