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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 with the Member that it is an incredibly sensitive and, potentially, traumatic moment for families, and they certainly should have a dedicated space where their privacy and dignity are respected. I have visited some of those areas in some of our hospitals. I know that I have responded to questions for written…
I am very keen that we explore that area, because there have been developments that could be of great benefit to families who go through such a traumatic time. They involve using imaging and other approaches, rather than a full post-mortem examination. I should stress that the approaches are relatively new and are…
Members will be aware that perinatal and paediatric pathology services are provided through a service-level agreement with Alder Hey Children's Hospital Foundation Trust in Liverpool. That has been the case since January 2019. I accept that it is not the preferred service model, but I assure the House that it is…
I am unaware of that medication. I will certainly take that question away and ask the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer and other senior colleagues. We will get back to the Member.
I say to them that, while the waiting lists are not what they should be, the services are of a very high quality. Some people say to me that Health and Social Care is broken; I do not agree with that. However, I accept that some of the pathways and access into Health and Social Care are very badly damaged. I assure…
The Western Trust undertook a waiting list initiative last year. That delivered 20 additional assessments for individuals who were approaching 18 years of age. It plans to use identified non-recurrent investment this year. That should help deliver a further 13 assessments across children and adults. Its autism…
My secret is out, obviously. As is the case across other areas, the Western Trust continues to experience significant demand for autism assessments. I am afraid that the latest figures show that just over 3,000 people are awaiting assessment. That includes 2,517 children. The trust currently completes around 420 child…
One of the other issues is the real living wage. I am keen to secure that for social work. I will make a general point to the Member on bureaucracy. Health and social care can be a complex area to work in, but I am very much of the opinion — I have stated this almost from the get-go — that we have overcomplicated how…
I am pleased to say that we have. We have been successful in recruiting newly qualified social workers into trust vacancies, particularly in the past three years. My Department continues to work closely with senior managers in the trusts, and we are developing a recruitment process for social workers that is both…
I am pleased to say that the Department is steadily increasing investment. First, there were 15 additional places at the Open University in 2019, and, in 2021, 10 more were added, bringing the total to 285 per year. Since then, I have secured additional investment to further increase social work training places. In…
I assure the Member that thought is being given to alternative arrangements in the event that Birch Hill does not go ahead as planned. I was at a meeting in that regard as recently as late this morning. However, I will not go into detail at this stage, because I do not want to raise false expectations.
I have been to Holywell Hospital and looked at the plans. There is a mock ward that you can walk around and view. A world-class facility is being planned. Can we afford to fund it? I do not know the answer to that, because we have yet to see the capital budget's release from the Department of Finance. When we do, we…
I thank the Member for his comments. The mental health strategy was published alongside a 10-year funding plan. That plan outlined that, over 10 years, £1·2 billion was needed to implement it in full, so the direct answer to the direct question, "Is it being funded in full?", is "No".
I believe that I have given the Member quite a long list of services that are available in that area. The people in the workforce who deliver those services are extremely committed and dedicated. However, as with most if not all of Health and Social Care, demand currently outstrips capacity. I do not see that ending…
In the mid-Ulster area, mental health services are provided by the Northern and Southern Trusts, as well as community and voluntary groups. Both trusts provide community mental health teams and teams that look after the mental health of older people. In the Mid-Ulster Hospital site, patients can access crisis…
To be clear to Mr Carroll, I am less optimistic than I was a couple of weeks ago, but I still think that the situation will be resolved. Even if it leads to strike action — I pray to God that it does not — at some point, the pay issue will have to be resolved. If we allow it to go to strike action, it will have an…
I am open to doing that as we move into a multi-year, presumably three-year, Budget. We will certainly run that as an exercise, and we will have to make a best guess at what the pay bodies will recommend, because the Budget will come ahead of next year's pay award recommendations. We will then have to see what…
That is a valid question from the Chair of the Health Committee. I did, indeed, commit to providing the real living wage for social workers from September, so we are through that deadline. Unfortunately, that has become part of the mix in how we address what is a £600 million funding gap for the Department of Health.…
I hope that the Member recognises that I cannot answer that question, because my permanent secretary has made it clear to me that we do not have the funds available, hence the ministerial direction. I have to say that I disagree with the term "dithering". Every Minister and every Department is struggling badly with…
As Members are aware, I issued a ministerial direction to implement the pay recommendations for 2025-26. That has been referred to the Executive for consideration and decision. The decision has not yet come. I have raised the issue at several meetings. Two weeks ago, I stood in the Chamber and was quite optimistic. I…
Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I thank those who tabled the motion and the amendment and everybody who has contributed to the debate. Let us pause and think about the human cost of what we are talking about. Clearly, the debate was sparked by events at summer festivals such as Emerge. The investigations are ongoing, so it…
I thank the Member for giving way. I think that he is right to say that when Portugal introduced that regime, the number of deaths and medical incidents did drop significantly, but that was because the new policy was matched by very heavy investment in resources within the community. That investment has dried up, and…
Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I am sure that you think that I will start by thanking Members because that is the standard procedure, but I do not think that this was a standard debate. It was a particularly important debate, and I thank Linda Dillon in particular for setting the tone. I am going to read her…
With your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, before I respond to the debate, I want to respond to some of President Trump's remarks about the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and the MMR vaccine. I can advise that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the responsible body for regulating all…