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. I will take it to officials. I am aware of coeliac disease but only at a superficial or headline level. I commit to checking what service the Department and the health trusts provide in that regard, and whether there is a consistent service across the five trusts, and get back to…
I welcome the Member's statement. On the pay pressures, when working out our budget, we had to make an assumption that there would be a 2·8% pay rise. As I said, the two sets of recommendations — for allied health professionals on the one hand and doctors and dentists on the other — have been received by the…
My Department is facing an extremely challenging financial position in this financial year. Members will recall that, compared with the level of need that is being driven by increased demand, health inflation, pay and trust deficits, among many other factors, my Department was facing a £400 million shortfall this…
I assure the Member that I am acutely aware of the need for regional balance and that not a week goes by that I do not look at waiting lists and issues and say, "Why is best practice in one trust not being replicated and put into common practice in all five trusts?". I put in the proviso that the Belfast Trust offers…
I thank the Member for his question. We have been looking at the legislative programme that we can introduce in the remaining two years of the mandate. I can assure the Member that it is my desire that the safe staffing legislation come forward before the end of the mandate. I cannot commit to an exact month yet, but…
I thank the Member for his question. I am not going to be definitive in my answer. He was very specific about the review that he has in mind, so I will take that away. Broadly, however, we look at the gaps on a trust-by-trust basis and even on a hospital-by-hospital basis. I hope that the Member is aware that,…
I thank the Member for that. The AHP cohort forms the second-largest block in healthcare after nursing, and it is really important. As I said, a record 505 allied health professional preregistration training places are to be commissioned by my Department in this financial year. The breakdown, in which the Member may…
Last week, I was very pleased to announce a significant package of investment in Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care workforce. The measures that I have announced will bring annual investment in the commissioning of workforce training places to £160 million. This year, my Department will commission 1,065 nursing…
I thank the Member for the question. I am not aware that outsourcing is something that we want to do. I think that we had to do it as a short-term measure when we consolidated on the Belfast Trust site. I want to reassure people that every effort is being made to review what happened in the Southern Trust. We have had…
I thank the Member for that. She will be aware that I have officials working on a women's health action plan, and education will be a core part of that. Looking ahead, I would prefer to have a women's health strategy, but, in the meantime, the important thing to do is to get an action plan that enables us to take…
I thank the Member for his question, which is in two parts. Yes, being timely is of the essence. It is all very well having the buildings, the equipment, the staff and the protocols, but, if testing is not actioned in a timely manner, the risk, obviously and self-evidently, is that we miss problems or allow problems…
I thank the Member for his commentary. The question was how confident I am: I would like to think that I am very confident, because I think that, when you have had issues on the scale of those experienced by patients and service users in the Southern Trust, everybody involved in the screening, whether in cytology or…
I thank the Member for his question and understand that it is rooted in previous serious issues. Yes, I encourage women to take up the offer of cervical screening when invited to do so. Over 99% of cervical cancers are caused by HPV. Primary HPV testing is an automated test that identifies the presence of HPV. It is…
I thank the Member for that follow-up question. There have been some issues around the timeliness of reporting; I accept that that is indeed the case. Last week, though, I was pleased to hear that work is being done to address that. We look at a range of weeks in blocks in terms of how long it takes to report to…
The new regional cervical screening laboratory in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has been operational since November 2024. The Belfast Trust was awarded the regional contract following an expression-of-interest process that considered submissions from trusts against a range of key criteria. The Belfast Trust…
Yes, it is. The Member will be aware of the fact that, since I was first elected in around 2011, I have campaigned on the broad theme of mental health. I came to that from being a victims' commissioner, because it was obvious that our excessive rates of poor mental health — let me put it that way — are a direct result…
If the Member is enquiring whether there should be a separate, bespoke training regime and system in place for dealing with autism, my officials say that that is not necessary and that interventions can be done within the mental health services but in a bespoke way that is directed towards a person-centred pathway of…
My understanding is that it will be available to all those working in Health and Social Care and not just to mental health practitioners. Sorry, what was the second part of the question?
I thank the Member for the question. I am happy to advise that my Department has engaged with Middletown Centre for Autism in order to develop autism and neurodiversity awareness training. It will be available on the Health and Social Care (HSC) learning platform in the coming weeks. Not only has that training been…
On a point of order, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. May I make a point of clarification? I want to clarify a point of detail from last week's Assembly debate on cancer waiting times. During the debate, I made reference to the Western Trust in particular being reliant on a single-handed dermatology consultant. That is…
I thank the Member. There was no detailed discussion on hospice care during the sectoral meeting. Previously, as I said, I met Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, the Minister for Health in the Government of Ireland, down in Dublin. After that, I visited a hospice in Dublin. I got a briefing on the different funding…
I thank the Member. I found it hard to hear her — I think that she was a little bit off-mic — but I got the gist of what she said. I will certainly share the two pieces of information that she listed. We were keen to discuss the fact that, when there is a tragic incident, we have to learn the lessons from it, not just…
In compliance with section 52 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, I wish to make the following statement on the twenty-sixth North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meeting in the health and food safety sectoral format, which was held in Armagh on Wednesday last, 14 May 2025. I was joined at the meeting by junior…
I thank the Member for her question. Of course, if you want to make becoming a GP attractive, you will put more into GP practices, but the money does not exist. There is a shortfall of half a billion pounds in the current Health and Social Care budget. We are investing, and we are investing in the GP workforce. I say…