The Department of Health has published a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan aimed at delivering essential reforms to the adult social care sector in Northern Ireland.

Alongside the long-term strategy, an initial three-year delivery plan has been released, outlining specific actions and timeframes. The objective of these initiatives is to transform how care and support are experienced, with a primary focus on independence, equity, innovation, and early intervention.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt highlighted the significant challenges currently facing the sector, including difficulties in staff recruitment and retention, rising demand, and the increasing complexity of patient needs which lead to hospital discharge delays.

The Minister stated: "The severe pressures within adult social care and support services in Northern Ireland are well known. Challenges with workforce recruitment and retention, increased demand for social care services, greater complexity of need, and delayed hospital discharges are leading to growing pressure on budgets and impacting on the capacity of services to respond to need. "We therefore can't just keep doing more of the same. We need different approaches, including a greater focus on earlier preventative measures and more community-based support, as well as finding more efficient ways to deliver services including through the use of technology where appropriate. We also need to focus on ways of attracting, retaining, supporting and developing the social care workforce. My Department has already published a 10-year Social Care Workforce Strategy, and I remain fully committed to funding the Real Living Wage at the earliest affordable opportunity."

The published plans include several key workstreams:

• An examination of the current homecare delivery model to determine necessary changes to better meet support needs.

• The development of a comprehensive preventative adult care framework to help individuals remain healthy and safe at home.

• Maximising the use of digital, AI, and assistive technology solutions to support traditional service delivery.

• Improving the uptake of Self-Directed Support (SDS) options to give individuals more control over their care.

Minister Nesbitt added: "Social care is fundamentally preventative in nature and therefore is a vital element of my shift left vision and Neighbourhood Model of care. It plays a critical role in maintaining the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities by addressing needs early and reducing reliance on and demand for more intensive and more expensive health and social care services.

"These plans taken together provide a roadmap for the reform of our social care system over the next decade. Success will depend on close partnership and cooperation from both the statutory and independent sectors, and of course, a collective willingness to advance the reform agenda."