Another headache for health chiefs as Brandon Lewis directs Robin Swann to stop collapse of abortion services in NI

It isn’t the first time this has happened.

Essentially, the Department of Health has so far refused to commission abortion services, with Mr Swann claiming the matter had to be discussed by the Executive.

However, a Department of Health paper on the matter hasn’t yet made it onto the Executive’s agenda, so services have been hit and miss depending on where women live.

For example, the failure to commission abortions resulted in the suspension of EMA services in the Northern Trust between October 2020 and January this year, while the EMA service run by the South Eastern Trust was also paused for a month at the start of this year.

Despite the lack of resources, the service has managed to limp along to a certain degree, with sometimes single members of staff running clinics for patients.

But it was dealt a blow last month when Informing Choices NI, the charity that provides the central access point into the fragile EMA service, said it would have to withdraw the system if funding was not made available by October.

Naturally, the charity is delighted by the intervention of Brandon Lewis and has called for “immediate action” to make sure the funding is put in place to allow it to continue to deliver the central access service.

Amnesty International has also expressed its delight at the development, as has Doctors for Choice NI, which said it means “all women and girls are to receive the local, safe, compassionate access they need”.

Of course, the provision of abortion remains a hugely contentious issue. Anti-abortion group Precious Life has urged its followers to register their horror with their MLAs in a desperate bid to stop terminations happening here.

But it seems that Mr Lewis has taken account of the potential for political pushback and has directed Stormont’s First and Deputy First Ministers that “once proposals are brought forward by the Department of Health, they must be included on the agenda” at the next Executive meeting.

However, even making it that far, the issue of funding is likely to create even more headaches for officials.

Last night the Department of Health was unable to provide a projected cost for the service. Instead, it said work is ongoing to develop and cost a commissioning model for the delivery of abortion services here.

This will then need to be referred to the Executive for approval.

Furthermore, Mr Lewis has been very clear — there will be no additional money to help the Department of Health meet the costs of delivering abortion services.

It remains unclear where the funds will come from as Mr Swann has warned repeatedly in recent months that he does not have enough money to meet the current healthcare needs of the population.

Will this mean he has to divert funds from other much-needed front line services to ensure women can access safe healthcare?

Or will alternative funds be found by the Executive to cover the cost of providing a fully commissioned abortion service for women?

It was unclear last night what would happen if the Department of Health is unable to identify sufficient funds from its already severely overstretched budget for an abortion service that serves the needs of the population in a safe and sustainable way.

However, if the Executive does indeed have to rubberstamp funding for abortion services, it might be some time yet before an agreement can be reached by the parties.

Pro-choice campaigners may well have been celebrating last night.

But, as experience has demonstrated very clearly over many years, nothing is ever straightforward in Northern Ireland politics.