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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 thank the Member for his question. We have looked at the provision of CCNs, but it is imperative that we ensure that all children have safe access to education that is supported by the necessary therapeutic support. The Public Health Agency is leading a comprehensive analysis in order to identify what the assessed…
All special education needs schools across Northern Ireland have community children’s nurses (CCNs) available to them in order to manage the identifiable healthcare needs of their pupils. For historical reasons, of the 40 SEN schools in Northern Ireland, only eight have on-site CCNs in place, who are split across the…
I thank the Member for his question. Yes, absolutely. The first thing to say is that the college being there has led to a reduction in costs for several training topics for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service itself. Those include breathing apparatus instructor training, road traffic collision instructor…
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Learning and Development College in Cookstown represents a transformative investment in firefighter training, public safety and regional development. It is world class. I will repeat that, because we do not have many facilities that meet that criterion: it is world class.…
I do not think that I have that statistic to hand. I am not sure whether we even trap that statistic, but I will certainly look out for it for the Member if we have it.
I am not sure how that relates to transportation. We are very conscious that cancer waiting times are getting longer, that that is not good and that it delivers very bad outcomes. The longer a patient has to wait, the less likely they are to get an optimum outcome. It is a very important issue, but it is not relevant…
As referenced in my previous answer, the Department for Infrastructure, the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs are engaged. Officials have been tasked with looking at how we can help to get people who do not have their own transport to and from health and social care…
I thank the Member. I should have added in my opening remarks that we have a cancer support services directory and that, for those on low incomes, there is a hospital travel costs scheme that may provide financial assistance. On the broader point, the Member knows that I consulted on a strategy that would create a…
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) provides non-emergency transport for patients who, due to clinical need, cannot reasonably travel independently. The service operates under my Department’s transport strategy for health and social care services, which promotes safe, equitable, and patient-centred…
I understand that the Member represents the west. I represent Strangford, as a constituency MLA, but I have to park that and perform the role of Minister of Health for the whole of Northern Ireland. It was made abundantly clear to me that the variation in waiting lists for breast cancer assessment was not acceptable,…
I agree with the Member. We are driving down the variation, which demonstrates that we can then turn to areas such as mental health. I want to get away from postcode lotteries and move to having consistent and standardised services regionally, so that nobody feels disadvantaged by their postcode. Postcode lotteries…
I regret the fact that it is such a long wait, but I hope that the Member will understand the logic of what we did in bringing in a regional service. She noted the variation, with the Western Trust having the best — or shortest — waiting times. What do I say to that person? I say that I am very sorry and hope that she…
I absolutely am. It is something that he is addressing. It is not a question of saying to somebody, "You've done really well", but to somebody else, "You haven't done quite as well" or "You're not doing what you should be doing". I spoke to Mark at some length before he went out on the ground, in post. The fact that…
I thank the Member for his question. As the Member will know, Professor Mark Taylor has become the first elective care lead in the history of healthcare in Northern Ireland. He is looking at waiting list initiatives, particularly, but, within that, we want to try to address some of the issues regarding clinical…
I will respond to the Member in a couple of ways. There is no point in having what, we think, is a solid strategy if it does not have buy-in from stakeholders. As well as the need for buy-in, we have to be sure that, if we are going to have a strategy, we will be able to follow it up not just with an implementation…
I can be specific only about the clinical trials regarding that ball that goes down on a string for Barrett's oesophagus. The MHRA is now saying that the EU regulations do not apply, so we can go ahead. We cannot start it immediately, because we must make sure that we have the right governance arrangements in place in…
To be fair to the Belfast Trust, the Department of Health and our arm's-length bodies (ALBs) rely, on such occasions, on the advice of a UK-wide body, which is the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It originally gave an opinion that we had to conform to specific EU regulations — the EU in…
The Department of Health facilitates access for patients to clinical trials through the work of the Health and Social Care (HSC) research and development division in the Public Health Agency (PHA). The division oversees participation in UK-wide clinical governance and trial approval processes. In addition, it funds…
I am afraid that I will not dream up policy on the hoof. However, I certainly accept the logic of what the Member seeks to address. I hope that she knows that I am looking for standardised regional services that take a holistic approach and that we want to end the silos, whether it is over diagnoses, procedures or…
I thank the Member for the question. I was not particularly aware of direct payments when I took up post 18 months ago, but, very quickly, I was made aware that it is a pretty complicated process. It puts a huge onus on those who are receiving direct payments, because, effectively, they become employers. That is maybe…
I thank the Member. I am not particularly keen on committing to timelines, because, as the Member may be aware, there have been a number of initiatives, such as the cancer research strategy, where we have said that we had put a timeline on it but then have not delivered on it, so I do not want to continue to raise…
We are progressing a number of pieces of work to improve transitions for autistic children as they move into adult services, particularly a new learning disability service model that is currently out for consultation. It is fully applicable for autistic adults with a co-occurring diagnosis of learning disability. In…
I published the overarching winter preparedness plan on Thursday 16 October. It had been my intention to publish it at the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care (NICON) conference on the Wednesday, but I took a decision to delay by one day, because I wanted to allow for further consideration of the…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will cut straight to the chase. Mr Gildernew asked whether I will visit Woodlawn. Yes, of course I will. I will visit it and speak to the residents, the workforce, the carers and the parents. I get out and about every week. That is important to me. I can sit behind that desk in Castle…
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, and thanks to everybody who spoke in the debate. Let me be very clear that I very much regret what has happened to the community crisis intervention service. As has been pointed out, it has helped over 3,400 people through one-to-one interventions since 2021. Before turning…