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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.
I agree that there is great benefit to early diagnosis of dementia. My Department has been leading on work that aims to reduce the waiting lists. We have identified a number of system-wide measures that could help to reduce delays. Each trust has sought to improve the position through initiatives such as extra memory…
The short answer is no: the number of beds is not sufficient to meet demand. I respectfully say to the Member that that is likely to be the case for acute beds across our health and social care trusts. The pressure has been on for a considerable length of time, and it remains on 24/7/365. It gets worse — it gets…
I thank the Member for his question. I was aware that age is a factor in the prevalence of delirium: his exact request is one that I am more than happy to take away.
I thank the Member for her question. Obviously, that is an area of concern, particularly for the loved ones of people who are suffering from delirium. They might well have a preference for their loved one to be treated in HSC rather than the independent sector. However, I reassure the Member that the Department…
I thank the Member for the question. Work is always ongoing in trying not only to assess current demand but to predict how that demand is going to go. The answer tends to be that it is going to go up. Delirium is in with a broader area of mental health challenges. As, I am sure that the Member is aware, delirium is a…
I apologise to Mr Frew for the fact that the question was not answered in a timely manner. It is a fact that my Department conducts something like 30% of all communications for all the Departments, so there is a lot of pressure on it, and mistakes may be made. That might explain, but it certainly does not excuse. I…
Each trust will have its own operating model for how it manages patients with delirium, be that in the hospital, independent sector or intermediate care. That means that trusts may not have specific designated delirium beds, but all will manage delirium patients or other patients with challenging behaviours. The…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Thank you to everybody who contributed, particularly Mr Kearney. The debate reminded me of one that we had in early October when Sinn Féin tabled a motion on the mother-and-baby unit. Believe me: my approach to Birch Hill and the mother-and-baby unit is the same. I want them — I want them…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I begin by echoing your sentiments of thanks to all Members who have spoken, but particularly those who shared highly personal experiences. I often say that all healthcare is personal, but that is particularly so when it comes to such a condition as cancer. I am heartened, because I get a…
I will start in reverse order, by addressing the amendment, which I find very welcome. The Minister of Finance promised me up to £100 million towards pay, but the amendment is much more definitive than that: it talks about "£100 million". Therefore, the proposer's powers of persuasion with Mr O'Dowd are admirable…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. As Mr McGrath said, the spirit of harmonious agreement has really broken out. We could be on for a hat-trick on Monday, but I would not bet on that because I have seen the running order. To Cheryl Brownlee, thanks for bringing the debate. We are in agreement. It is an area where, for…
Deputy Speaker, thank you. If anybody was in any doubt that all healthcare is personal, this debate and this issue are the proof. I will begin by trying to assure Members that, right from the beginning, from taking up my post, I have given this matter my full focus. I have listened to those who have been affected and…
If the Member is looking for specific numbers, I will have to write to her. There is certainly a shortage of social workers and social care workers, so I am afraid that what she is telling me does not come as a huge surprise. I will have to get back to her in writing with the fine detail.
Again, let me check exactly where we are with the double ED waits. It was the RQIA assessment of the impact of moving emergency general surgery to Altnagelvin that exposed to the public the idea of people having a wait for assessment in the ED in the South West Acute Hospital but then having to do that again when they…
I thank the Member. I will write to him on that, if he does not mind, because, while ambulance waiting times have been bad down the years, I am getting a hint that there is some really solid, positive Northern Ireland-wide news that includes Altnagelvin. I will listen to the follow-up question, but a focus is being…
It is because I do not accept the Member's assessment that there were "atrocious" decisions made in the Department of Health at that time. The Member and I clearly disagree absolutely fundamentally, and it is fine that we should do that. The 1967 Act deals only with infectious diseases. We are in the 21st century, and…
It was more of a broad acknowledgement that there was concern about human rights and about government being in a position in which it will potentially overreach into people's personal freedoms and decision-making. Let me make a broader point to the Member, however. It was early in my tenure that I was asked to sign…
Again off the top of my head, I suggest that, if the Member holds such information, he should immediately pass it on to the Police Service of Northern Ireland and potentially to the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland.
I am pretty confident that it does, because the workforce challenges remain. Although we have invested heavily and increased the overall workforce that delivers health and social care, there are still major gaps. Before coming to the Chamber, I was slightly delayed because I was listening to somebody in the Long…
I thank the Member for her question. I was not aware that that was happening until that report was published, and I found it quite shocking. The range of activity and the scale of Health and Social Care are such that it is challenging to stay across every development. I did not welcome what I heard, because we are in…
On the substantive point, yes is the short answer. However, the context that the Member tried to place it in is deeply unfair. The Assembly, as he knows, was down twice during that time, and the only other person in recent years from this party to hold the position of Minister of Health was Robin Swann, who got hit…
I do agree, and I can only assure the Member that that is an area of focus for me. Introducing the regionalised booking service for breast assessment is not the beginning and the end of what I intend to do in that area.
On the latter point, I believe that GPs and, indeed, community pharmacists are very aware of the need to check for unintended errors, so I do not expect that there will be any lack of focus there. An electronic system allows you to build in objective tests rather than to rely on individuals' subjective eyesight and…
The Department is currently leading on an ePharmacy programme, a central component of which is the electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) project, which will introduce a fully electronic system to replace the current paper-based prescription process. That system will enable the secure transmission of prescriptions…