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| | Thursday, 12 December, 2002, 11:29 GMT Budget cash targets waiting lists  Waiting lists are at their longest ever in NI Hospital waiting lists are being targeted following a cash injection of an extra �400m into Northern Ireland's Health Service. Direct rule minister Des Browne said the budget allocation, announced on Wednesday, would also allow the most significant programme of improvements in health provision for many years. Hospitals in the province are set to get 100 more acute beds while officials have set a target of a 5% cut in waiting lists by March 2004. There are 60,000 awaiting treatment and people called long waiters - those who wait in breach of Patients' Charter standards - have also hit an all-time high of more than 9,000.
"The increase announced for next year amounts to �400m, an overall increase of 14.9%. "Most of this money is needed to maintain existing levels of service and honour existing commitments, but we will be able to secure meaningful and measurable improvements in a wide range of services," said Mr Browne. The minister said the budget provided �45m for new developments - �18m more than was announced in the draft budget earlier this year. Acute services A number of key areas are being targeted for improvement with the help of the cash boost. The screening of women for breast cancer will also be expanded to women up to the age of 70, while the treatment of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes outside hospitals is being expanded. Mr Browne said the budget would also fund the completion of a number of major programmes. He also said money had been set aside to make a start on high priority projects identified in a consultation exercise on hospital modernisation. "I will announce the specific projects, as part of the overall decisions, early next year," he said. "When final decisions have been taken, work can begin straight away to take forward the key capital investments so that projects can begin as soon as possible." Autism Meanwhile, Northern Ireland Office minister Jane Kennedy has announced an increase of 7.3% for education for next year. This would bring the total budget up to �1540m and 9.7% for employment and learning up to �711m, she said.
The minister said that over the next three years there would be �52m for school budgets over and above existing real levels and �19m for the introduction of curriculum reform. Almost �4m is destined for the Youth Service, with �2.6m for capital and running costs of a new centre of excellence for the education of children with autism. Mrs Kennedy said there would be a �5.7m rise in university research funding for next year and �10m in each of the following two years. There will also be an increase of �11m for student support and �8m to implement the essential skills strategy. | |
See also:  11 Dec 02 | N Ireland 05 Sep 02 | N Ireland 07 Mar 02 | N Ireland 20 Feb 02 | N Ireland Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top N Ireland stories now: Links to more N Ireland stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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There will be a �5.7m rise in university research funding for next year and �10m in each of the following two years
