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The elderly and the most vulnerable will be the worst hit as a result of the NI executive's health budget.

The warning came from health officials who have published the department's spending plans.

They also predict there could be up to 4,000 job losses over four years.

In order to provide an efficient service, health officials have said they need £5.4bn by 2015 to meet demand - instead they are to get £4.6bn - a shortfall of £800m.

Some of the 4,000 predicted job losses will be through natural wastage and retirement but there will be some compulsory redundancies. - BBC