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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 qualifying, uncertain or not yet analysed.
The hospital reconfiguration consultation produced a significant number of responses, some of which were basically from a cut-and-paste template. That led me to have a discussion with the permanent secretary about what would be a novel way forward in Northern Ireland. That plan is being progressed. Unfortunately, it…
Recent investment has been made via the elective care framework, with seven additional sessions having been funded over a 42-week year as part of the first phase of endoscopy expansion. The bulk of that capacity is being delivered on the SWAH site and includes the provision of an additional consultant post based at…
I am struck by the Member's remarks and give her my assurance that, when I leave the Chamber, I will instruct officials to ask the Western Health and Social Care Trust for a written report detailing — in detail — the pre-engagement, including who they have spoken to and which organisations those people represent. If…
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Western Trust has assured me that it has undertaken a comprehensive early engagement exercise with stakeholders, involving all political parties, local businesses, service users, community groups, the Patient and Client Council (PCC), local media, community planning partners and Departments,…
I spoke during Members' statements earlier about the untimely passing of the Western Trust's chair, Dr Tom Frawley CBE. I repeat my condolences to his family, his friends and his many admirers. The Western Trust's vision for Fermanagh and west Tyrone is intended to provide a long-term framework for the delivery of…
It is a little early to be definitive about the statistical analysis of the disruption from the strikes, but some elective procedures will undoubtedly be postponed, which is a matter of deep regret for me. The doctors know that all that I am empowered to do is implement the 3·5% pay rise that the independent body…
The statistics that I have quoted suggest that we are moving in the right direction. It is cold comfort for anybody who is waiting beyond the stipulated waiting time to know that other people may have benefited from the work that has gone into that, but I do not buy into the idea that there is total despair in the…
The current waiting time is, I believe, just over five weeks, which is down from 12. That is cold comfort, given that the target is 14 days, but I will point out two issues to the Member. The first was the unacceptable variation between trusts. The Western Trust and the Southern Trust were the best and the worst. If…
Part of the answer is funding and resource. The elective care framework implementation and funding plan includes £13 million for endoscopy services and £12 million for diagnostic imaging. When the plan is fully implemented, the investment will deliver approximately 16,500 additional endoscopy procedures and 7,800…
Significant action is being taken to increase capacity across diagnostic imaging and endoscopy services, which are central to many cancer pathways. Recent management information shows encouraging progress. Between 31 March and 11 June this year, the number of patients waiting more than 28 days for a suspected cancer…
Members will be aware of the sad, sudden and untimely passing of Dr Tom Frawley CBE, the chair of the Western Health and Social Care Trust. Tom had a long and extremely distinguished career as a public servant that began in the health service. I am told that he became the youngest person ever to be appointed as chief…
Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker, and thanks to the Opposition for bringing a debate on this issue. All healthcare is personal, and I thank Órlaithí Flynn, Kellie Armstrong, Linda Dillon and Nuala McAllister for making the debate personal, because that is the only way that we will really understand. I welcome the…
With your indulgence, Mr Speaker, I may request an additional minute to respond. Following last month's ballots, Northern Ireland members of the British Medical Association (BMA) have agreed to take industrial action over two 24-hour periods: consultants and SAS doctors on Thursday 25 June; and resident doctors on…
I am not across the last point that the Member has made. Am I concerned about the trust taking an overly legalistic approach to it? Of course I am, because that is what Mr Kark reports in the inquiry report: that it was adversarial. Again, it is not about the volume of response, which is probably justifiable, but…
Having thanked the leader of the Opposition for making this possible, I now wonder for how long he has sat on that information, rather than bringing it to me. However, we will have that conversation. I will assure myself as best I can about the quality of resettlement and, more broadly, about whether abuse is…
On that last point, officials have assured me that exceptional care and a lot of time are taken to try to meet the individual needs of patients when they are being resettled, but I look forward to starting the conversations on the other side, as it were, by talking to families immediately after this session. I…
I take the Member's point about a revolving door. However, we are bringing in fresh ideas and fresh faces, such as Steve Spoerry, the chief executive of the Southern Trust, and Mike Farrar, the permanent secretary in the Department of Health. The different ideas that they have brought in have been more than welcome.…
I am absolutely prepared to take further action to restore public confidence, if I feel that that step is necessary. The Member will know that, with regard to the Belfast Trust, I have previously taken what could be regarded as decisive steps. I am not afraid to do so again, if I deem that necessary.
In the report, Mr Kark and his colleagues do not make recommendations specific to the Belfast Trust, which owned and ran the Muckamore Abbey Hospital. Rather, of the 106 recommendations in the report, 63 — way over half — are for the health and social care trusts, plural. That gives some indication of where Mr Kark…
As I have said, we will not only advance the Adult Protection Bill but introduce an organisational duty of candour Bill. Alongside that, we will support the UK-wide Public Office (Accountability) Bill, commonly known as the Hillsborough law, which includes individual duties on every person working in the health and…
I am sad to hear about the Member's experience. In summary, those patients are vulnerable. Some have families who were more than capable of advocating on their behalf, but patients who do not should have advocates and key workers. They should have people who know them, understand them and care for them on every step…
That very issue is a focus for me, and it begins later today when I will meet the chair and the chief executive of the Belfast Trust. I am not interested in letting anybody off the hook. I am absolutely convinced about the guilt here and about the evil that was perpetrated. It was not simply about nurses wandering…
On the second point, I understand that all but one of the patients have now been allocated a new set of living circumstances. I am also assured that one reason for it having taken longer than it was first anticipated to close Muckamore Abbey Hospital is that such considerable care has been taken in trying to meet the…
It was shameful, so we have to do everything humanly possible to make sure that it never happens again. There are 106 recommendations. I will not go through them all, but I will take the first and the last. Recommendation 106 is about a small working group to discuss redress. That includes patients, families and…
Anybody working in Health and Social Care from me down through the trust boards and down to individuals delivering care in the community and in hospital settings needs to be curious; needs to feel empowered to speak up; and needs to speak up. What happened in Muckamore was that people walked on by. People sat and…