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Mr Mike Nesbitt: Assembly records
All of Mr Mike Nesbitt’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
First, I am extremely sorry to hear that your constituent's procedure was cancelled not once but twice. It is certainly a sharp focus of the Department and of Professor Mark Taylor, who looks after elective care regionally for me, that we understand and deal with why there are so many cancellations. I can tell the…
Inpatient treatment for cancer patients, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and treatment for haematological malignancy is delivered through two cancer centres. The first is the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital, which provides 49 oncology inpatient beds and a further 50 inpatient beds for…
I was very interested in what Michelle had to say about a bridge. If you spoke to road engineers today, they would probably tell you that they would build the A20 down the centre of the peninsula as a spine, with the side roads coming off it like ribs. However, we are where we are. I have a great fondness for the A20.…
In compliance with section 52 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, I wish to make the following statement on the twenty-seventh North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) health and food safety sectoral meeting, which was held in Armagh on Wednesday 14 January 2026. I chaired the meeting, and was joined by junior Minister…
Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Before I turn to the prepared remarks that you would expect me to have, I want to acknowledge — not just acknowledge but admire — Emma Sheerin's passion in trying to help her constituents and in ensuring that Callan gets to live his best life. His particular set of circumstances mean that he…
Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you very much. I am very pleased to be engaged in a debate on this issue, because it is fundamental to try to deliver better outcomes for patients, service users and staff, and, indeed, to talk about the reset — the so-called shift left. To start positively, I am pleased that all Members who…
On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I offer sympathies and condolences to Mickey Brady's family, friends and political colleagues in Sinn Féin. With certain people, just seeing their name or picture conjures up word association: with Mickey Brady, those words were "benefits" and "state entitlements". I have often…
Families can travel with the baby, but I understand that it is rare for them to do so, because the post-mortem, as you will understand, is a clinical process. There is no role for the families beyond waiting outside where the process is being undertaken. I believe that it is very rare. We have a service-level…
Thank you, Deputy Speaker, and I thank the signatories to the motion. I particularly acknowledge Philip McGuigan for setting the tone in his opening remarks by reminding us that it is not about systems or structures but about people and families. Mr Donnelly gave a figure of just over 1,000. The statistics that I was…
I have no evidence to that effect. If the Member is talking about emergency general surgery in the South West Acute Hospital, yes, that is still subject to a temporary suspension and patients are diverted primarily to Altnagelvin. We became aware some months ago of double examinations, whereby patients who had…
I do not have an update on developments on that for the Member. I am sure that he is aware that our capital budget is highly constrained, and one of the biggest pressures is the maintenance backlog. We really could use £1·6 billion, and we are getting far short of that. The first concern is keeping our buildings safe…
I have no idea. All I can say to the Member is that, when I took up post, I decided that I wanted the five trusts to work together and collaborate on financial management. Collaborating on financial management and discussing financial challenges is consistent with my direction of travel, so I hope that the Member is…
Yes. It was set up by the permanent secretary. I am not minded to look at structural reform in Health and Social Care, despite the fact that I question whether we should have set up five geographic trusts in Northern Ireland. To go for structural reform would absorb so much energy and be a big distraction. When Mike…
I will certainly take that away and have a discussion. As I said, I have a weekly catch-up meeting with the permanent secretary, and I am more than happy to put that issue on the agenda. However, it is not just about weight loss medication; a lot of cosmetic medications give me a lot of concern because, to my mind,…
With any prescription, we rely on the clinicians and the experts to make a clinical assessment and to do the right thing. The Member will be aware that, before we get to that point with GLP-1 medication, for example, bodies in England — the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute…
I do not wish to fall out with my colleague, but there was not a ban as such. If he is saying that a ban arose from the recommendations of the Cass report, I want to be clear that what the Baroness actually said was that there is not sufficient evidence to support the use of puberty blockers beyond a clinical trial,…
I thank the Member for his question. He will be aware that, following concerns raised by Executive colleagues, I asked Baroness Cass to conduct an assessment of the service model proposed in Northern Ireland. A draft report has been submitted to my officials for consideration. The Baroness and her team have determined…
It has not failed, and I did not say that it would take five years to fix the Ambulance Service. I said that it could take five years to build the community capacity to ensure that we do not have so many people who are medically fit for discharge still in acute beds. When I was at the Ulster Hospital on Wednesday,…
I am listening. Last Wednesday, I spent a few hours in an ambulance. We visited patients, and we took them to a couple of emergency departments. I listened carefully to the crew talk about their issues, and, indeed, during one handover period, I was able to talk to other crews. I was also able to talk to crews who…
For the large global pharmaceutical companies, Northern Ireland and the health and social care system are pretty small players — I hope that the Member will understand that — so, when it comes to those big-ticket issues, we rely on the health and social care system in London — on Secretary of State Streeting and his…
I am aware of those concerns. I have had discussions with representatives of community pharmacies, who look fondly to the Scottish model. The Department and my officials do not believe that the read-across is just as community pharmacy would wish us to understand it. That is part of the ongoing debate that we have…
I put a lot of store on non-medicinal social prescribing. In fact, we talked about MDTs in the answer to a previous question, and I would love it if we could add a social prescribing specialist to MDTs, or perhaps do so at a federation level. Yes, conversations about the alternatives to medicines are ongoing. Pills…
There are a number of indicators that the strategic planning and performance group (SPPG) can gauge, using improvement in cost-effective prescribing as its test. For example, generic prescribing continues to perform strongly. Current rates, exceeding 82% across Northern Ireland, reflect consistent selection of…
Last September, I launched Northern Ireland's first strategy focused on the sustainable use of medicines. My Department's valuing medicines strategy aims to support improvements in the use of medicines in Health and Social Care to ensure that they add value to health, that they are cost-effective and that they are…