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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.
That falls to the Public Health Agency (PHA). I assure the Member that it is particularly aware of the issue and the fact that there is a false belief among many that a test for cervical cancer will reveal ovarian cancer: it will not. The one thing that the PHA is not doing is paid-for advertising, which is a…
I certainly agree with the first half: I have met some of the mothers on a not infrequent basis — certainly more than once — and I get it. I also get their frustration that, although there is money available for short breaks, it is in our resource budget and cannot be used for capital. Quite rightly, they do not…
The Member can keep me right on this, but, as I understand it, the issue at Redwood was with a staircase. I am not aware of whether the works there have been completed. To make a general point, I am sure that the Member is aware that the use of such institutions and buildings is really fragile. If one young person…
I understand why the Member wants a date, but I cannot give him one, because such things depend on a huge number of factors. When I say that they depend on the workforce, it is not about productivity; it is about the workforce staying healthy and, perhaps, going off on maternity leave. There are, therefore, factors…
The short answer to that is yes. It is a matter of huge regret to me that this is happening, because it obviously impacts on outcomes for patients. When I first stood in the House as Minister, I said that cancer, along with mental health and a couple of other issues, would be my main areas of focus during my time as…
I made the decision to offer the real living wage from 1 September some months ago. It was on foot of discussions with officials. It is so long ago that Peter May was permanent secretary; it was a while ago. I wanted to do it, and I was told at the time that it was possible. At that time, I think, we were projecting…
I have said that I am no longer able to fulfil my commitment to provide a real living wage from 1 September last. I remain committed to providing it as soon as possible. There is no point in me saying, "Here is a new date", because who would believe it when the last date was broken? I have had several briefings and…
It will be perilous if we do not reform, but the permanent secretary and I are determined to finally begin that long-awaited, almost fabled shift left. We are now engaging with stakeholders. Earlier today, I met the Eastern GP Federation Support Unit, which, as you know, is a group that oversees a large number of GP…
I understand the Member's question, but, first of all, we do not know what is in the Budget. We will find out on Wednesday, and we will then move rapidly, led by the Minister of Finance, to assess the implications of the Budget for the Northern Ireland Executive. The Member asked about pay pressures and next year's…
I can say to the Member that this issue is relatively fresh to me and of real concern, because, if the equipment is not there, we have a serious issue. From 2021-22 until the current year, more than £40 million of capital funding was prioritised for the replacement of imaging and diagnostics equipment and related…
I understand that you have been hearing about it and hearing about it. A few days ago, I was in Coleraine to officially open an MRI scanner in the Causeway Hospital, so sometimes things that have been talked about and talked about actually happen. That is great and people will not now have to travel from Coleraine to…
I thank the Member for her question. The majority of the recommendations in the Ray Jones report have been or are being implemented. Some are cross-cutting, not least his proposal for an arm's-length body. I think that the report's preference was to include the Department of Education. That is not going to happen,…
That was the first time that the issue was put firmly on my radar, so step 1 was to have the meeting and listen to the lived experiences. I just outlined that step 2 is to ask officials to take a look and come to me with options. Once I have those, that would be the appropriate time to reach out to the Minister of…
I hope that the Member is aware from recent comments that I have made in the Chamber that I am reluctant to start providing timelines, because it seems to me that we are not world leaders in this Department in matching up to the timelines that we set. It was very useful to me to meet those individuals with the lived…
Thank you, Mr Speaker. An independent review of children's social care services was completed by Professor Ray Jones in June 2023, and it included commentary on family courts and social workers' engagements with those courts. Work is being undertaken to address the issues that were identified in the independent review…
After the pay, comes the transformation, because you can spend money on waiting lists — it is right that we are, and we are bringing them down — but, if that is all that you do, once the money is spent, the lists go back up again. So, we have to do the transformation in tandem with tackling the lists.
First, I did not see or hear the Finance Minister on the BBC at the weekend, but I am very grateful for his comments on the savings that my Department has managed to achieve. As I have said before, they are unprecedented. I very much look forward to having a multi-year Budget not just because it would provide a degree…
I presume that the Member is talking about tangible measures that show how transformation works. We already do that. We have done quite a bit of transformation in primary care. Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are being rolled out, and I am very grateful to the Executive and the public-sector transformation board for…
That is a two-part question. The second part is certainly the part that I would have asked about if I were her but not the part that I would answer if I were me, and I am me. We have been taking a degree of time to think about that concept, and we have been right to do so, because it is, as I have said often in the…
To make the profession more attractive, we need to pay people the right salary. Again, I regret that I am not in a position to move as quickly to paying the real living wage as I wanted to. It is, however, also about the conditions in which people are working and the respect that we show them, as well as about the…
I thank the Member for his question. I want to put an emphasis on community-based social care, which has to be a core pillar of the neighbourhood model. That will ensure that people can live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. To do that, we have to tailor support to their needs. Social care…
The reset plan that was published on 9 July is very clear. Transformation cannot simply be expanding hospital capacity; it has to mean changing how we deliver care, keeping people well for longer and supporting them in their own communities. In other words, getting health and social care services as close to people's…
The current national target rate for the diagnosis of dementia is 66·7%. Northern Ireland currently has a rate of 62%, so we reckon that there are about 25,000 people living with dementia in Northern Ireland. In 2024, it was reported by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) that 13,900 people had…
I thank the Member for her question. There is huge concern, not least in the House, about winter preparedness and the additional winter demands on Health and Social Care. My primary concern, and where I have asked for focus, is on when people with dementia present at emergency departments. As the Member will be aware,…
I thank the Member. The regional dementia care pathway sets out a vision for high-quality dementia services in a standardised, regionalised manner, emphasising early diagnosis. Through the development and introduction of resources, including easy-read guides and the Apps4Dementia library for self-care and daily living…