British Polio Fellowship backs call for neurology reform in Northern Ireland
8th September 2026
The British Polio Fellowship (BPF) is throwing its full support behind a new report calling for urgent reform of neurology services in Northern Ireland, warning that polio survivors living with the late effects of polio and post-polio syndrome are among those being failed by a system stretched far beyond its limits.
The report, “Left Behind: The Price of Inaction on Neurology Reform,” was published by the Northern Ireland Neurological Charities Alliance (niNCA). Its message is blunt: Northern Ireland can no longer afford to delay investment in neurology care. The cost of inaction has simply grown too high.
For many people who contracted polio decades ago, the fight isn’t over. Post-polio syndrome, a neurological condition that can bring new muscle weakness, fatigue, and pain years or even decades after the original illness, means many survivors depend on ongoing neurology care. Yet they’re now among nearly 30,000 people in Northern Ireland stuck waiting for a first neurology appointment, in a specialty that has the dubious honour of the longest waiting list of any in the region.
The average wait for a specialist appointment sits at around 18 months. Some patients, including polio survivors already managing a condition that changes with age, have waited more than seven years just to be seen. For a population that is ageing and whose symptoms can progress unpredictably, delays of this length aren’t a minor inconvenience; they risk irreversible decline, avoidable disability, worsening mental health, and more emergency admissions that could have been prevented with earlier care.
Around 40,000 people in Northern Ireland rely on neurology services in total, a figure the report suggests likely understates the real scale of need.
The report doesn’t only appeal to fairness, it makes an economic argument too. It calculates that £13 million a year invested over five years (£65.4 million overall) in reforming neurology services could yield savings of £869 million annually, helping chip away at the £2.72 billion neurological conditions currently cost Northern Ireland each year. More than half of that cost comes from lost productivity, people forced into early retirement, and the growing strain on unpaid carers, many of whom are family members of polio survivors and others living with long-term neurological conditions.
The Department of Health’s own Regional Review of Neurology Services has outlined the following priorities:
- expanding the neurology workforce
- bringing in more specialist nurses and allied health professionals
- strengthening community-based care
- improving access to diagnostics and specialist clinics
- delivering more coordinated, person-centred care
- building stronger data collection to guide future planning.
Sarah McCully Russell, Chair of niNCA said: “The Health Minister can no longer afford to delay neurology reform. This is not just the right thing to do for patients; it’s the smart thing to do for our economy.
“People have already waited almost ten years for improvements to neurology services. That is unacceptable. Every year reform is delayed Northern Ireland loses hundreds of millions of pounds that could be spent improving lives and supporting our health system. This wasn’t sustainable ten years ago, and it’s certainly not sustainable now.”
Kripen Dhrona, BPF Chief Executive Officer added: “The British Polio Fellowship fully endorses the report’s call to action, and we’re particularly urging the NI government to prioritise an increase in neurology consultants and the wider allied health professionals who support them. Polio survivors have already lived through one battle with a neurological illness, they shouldn’t have to fight for years just to get a follow-up appointment for the after-effects” commented Kripen Dhrona, BPF Chief Executive Officer.
What can you do?
Supporters are urged to share the niNCA report with their local MLA or MP and press them to ensure the Regional Neurology Review’s recommendations are properly funded and put into action, for polio survivors and everyone else relying on neurology care in Northern Ireland.
niNCA report: Left Behind: The Price of Inaction on Neurology Reform