Anne O’Reilly
Chair, Northern Health and Social Trust
I am pleased to present the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (the Trust) Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026. We all know the immense pressures our health and social care system faces and as we reflect on the last year, it is important that we highlight some of the very positive work happening across the Trust, and the progress that has been made; despite the very real challenges staff are having to navigate in their daily roles.
We are very proud of our staff. We know that our people are our most important asset and that’s why we have continued to focus on leadership, nurturing our teams, and fostering an open, just and learning culture within our Trust.
At the end of 2025, the Trust completed its reaccreditation process with Investors in People, and I am delighted that we maintained our Silver status, placing us in the top 20% of employers in the UK.
A Trust-wide survey of staff received the highest number of responses we’ve ever had, with more than 4,000 employees, almost a third of our staff, sharing their views and feedback. The results of the survey are very encouraging and reflect a strong, values-led organisation known for its exceptional teamwork, genuine compassion, and a deep sense of purpose.
With workplace culture an ongoing area of focus for us in our Trust, we remain committed to prioritising our people, our values and our culture, as the foundation on which we build.
In my role as Chair, I am very proud that our Trust has been at the forefront of creating networks and partnerships with our community and voluntary sector to drive forward new ways of working, and to be creative in how we pool our resources and bridge any gaps, to improve outcomes for our community.
We were the first local Trust to establish a Partnership and Population Health Committee with the specific aim of strengthening place based working with partners, communities, carers and the voluntary sector.
The Committee’s work is rooted in partnership. It promotes collaborative working to improve population health and wellbeing, reduce social care and health inequalities, support carers, and strengthen prevention and early intervention across Trust services, by supporting place based delivery within local communities. And with the Minister’s Reset Plan and Neighbourhood Model in mind, we are pleased that we already have some of those foundations in place to build upon.
Our Connect North social prescribing service celebrated its 2,000th referral last year. This partnership with Age NI helps to connect people within their communities to maintain and enhance their overall health and wellbeing. With loneliness and isolation affecting so many, particularly among our older population, our work with rural communities is also vital in ensuring people have access to our services and are supported to stay well.
This year marks 20 years of our Rural Health Service and we are proud that many of the initiatives that started off as pilot projects within our own Trust have grown to become successful regional initiatives.
Another recent success story is our Community Appointment Days pilot. This brings services together to wrap around individuals in community settings, providing them with direct access to services. They are aimed at early diagnosis and intervention, supporting self-management of conditions, taking a holistic approach to care, and offering advice and support closer to home.
This shift towards providing a more localised, neighbourhood response is already showing very positive signs, as evidenced by the introduction of our Hospital at Home service this year, and we look forward to exploring more opportunities in the future, aligned to the Department’s Reset Plan and neighbourhood approach.
Of course, our carers and volunteers are vital to the success of a neighbourhood model of care, and our new five-year Carer Strategy will ensure that carers receive improved, coordinated support from the Trust, and, importantly, that they feel valued and heard.
It has been a joy too, to celebrate an important milestone for another of our Trust services in the last year. For 20 years, our Day Opportunities Service has been enriching the lives of adults with a learning disability by ensuring they are being supported to live life to the fullest and achieve their true potential. Our #OpportunitiesForAll campaign shines a spotlight on the inspiring stories of our service users and their families who have been supported by the service through the years.
Innovation and our commitment to continuous improvement is something we remain focussed on. Following the rollout of encompass, the digital patient record system, across all five health trusts in the region, we continue to realise the benefits, not just for our staff, but for our local population.
More than 70,000 people living in our Trust area have downloaded the My Care app, giving people greater access to their healthcare information.
We are also able to offer new mums proxy access for their baby’s digital care record, meaning new parents have access to their child’s healthcare information from birth.
With the growing emergence of AI-assisted technology in healthcare, we have established our own internal oversight group to explore ways in which this technology can support improvements to patient outcomes and experience.
We were delighted to be the first HSC Trust to use an AI-enhanced programme to support our clinicians in reading X-rays, helping to reduce the margin for error and providing more accurate, efficient diagnostics for our patients.
While the financial challenges facing our Trust are considerable, I am pleased that over the last year, we have been able to invest in new and enhanced services for our population, including our investment in ambulatory care (same-day emergency care) pathways and the opening of our MRI unit at Causeway Hospital.
The new MRI scanner will give patients on-site access to diagnostics, without the need to travel to Antrim Area Hospital.
I am pleased, too, that women in the Northern Trust area will soon have parity with women across the rest of the region, with the opening of the Alongside Midwifery-Led Unit in Antrim.
Of course, our staff continue to feel the pressures of increased demand amid a deeply challenging financial environment. We know that long-term models of funding and transformation is vital to delivering the Health and Social Care system our community needs and deserves.
A renewed focus on supporting people to stay well and live well for longer is another important priority within our Corporate Plan. Prevention and early intervention is key to
reducing the likelihood of issues escalating so that people can be supported and empowered to lead full, healthy lives through access to the right support and resources.
I want to end by paying tribute to staff across all professions and disciplines for their steadfast efforts and commitment to providing the highest standard of care for those who so depend upon them.
In spite of all the many challenges, we have a highly dedicated and talented workforce who regularly go above and beyond for their community. We are extremely proud of the
contribution made by every member of Team North, and on behalf of our Board, I would like to personally thank you for your service.
My thanks, too, to all our community partners including our carers and volunteers, for your enormous contribution, and for the difference you are making to the lives of so many in our community.
Anne O’Reilly, Chair, 25 June 2026