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 recognise the vital work that the Belfast Inclusion Health Service offers to individuals who are homeless and need access to timely health and social care provision. I, like many in the Chamber, was shocked by the series of events that necessitated the relocation of that vital service to a new temporary location in…
I have had a conversation with Ema Cubitt about support. The sort of things that she was looking for to get up and running were simple things like a website, business cards and access to information and research. I have subsequently had a report back that she is satisfied with the level of cooperation that she is…
I take the admonishment from the Member: that was loose and inappropriate language; I apologise for my use of it. The Education Minister and I have met the principals of a number of special schools in this Building. We had a discussion on the issues that they face. On foot of that, the Chief Nursing Officer and I have…
Once again, it would be up to the trust to put in place the sort of facilities that the Member refers to. The strategy is supported by increased collaborative working across sectors. We have a two-year delivery plan, which contains a range of actions across Health, Education, Communities, Economy and a range of…
I thank the Member for her supplementary. As she may be aware, following the additional winter pressures, after Christmas, I visited seven of our emergency departments. One of the takeaways for me was that bright light and excessive noise are two things that, if you suffer from autism, are extremely off-putting. I…
My Department has taken a leading role in preparing the cross-departmental strategy to address long-standing inequalities across our public services. Despite a very challenging financial and political context, my Department continues to develop the new cross-departmental autism strategy for 2023-28, which was…
Those decisions are taken by the trusts. I will certainly look at what appears to be a disparity in the Southern Trust. As a matter of principle, I would like to see the five geographical trusts move to having standardised regional services so that there is no question of a postcode lottery in dentistry or in any…
As I have said, dentists are independent practitioners. It is up to them to decide whether they want to take on new patients and register them for health service work. I am afraid that the Department's position is that we will provide a list of local dentists to anybody who approaches it seeking to be registered with…
I thank the Member for his follow-up question. I regularly meet representative bodies of the various branches of Health and Social Care, all of which have concerns. They have concerns about their budget, about the cost of services and about the amount of money that we can devote to them. In fairness, all of them are…
With your permission, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, I will answer questions 2 and 12 together. I acknowledge the challenges facing many patients, particularly those not registered with a dental practice, in accessing dental care when they need it. One of the underlying reasons for that is that general dental…
I thank the Member for her supplementary question. As I said, there is an EAP, but it is available only from one of the 23 participating so-called NorthStar clinical centres in the United Kingdom. That programme is a clinical network of UK-wide healthcare professionals who are focusing on the best clinical management…
I am aware of the young boy whom the Member has mentioned, and my sympathies lie with him. However, I have to progress within the rules and recommendations and do so safely. The Belfast Trust provides a regional paediatric neuromuscular service through the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, and that would…
First of all, I was entirely unaware of your brother. I pass on my condolences to you. I do not want to provide false hope. It is up to NICE to decide whether it is safe to administer or recommend givinostat. NICE is a non-departmental public body (NDPB). It is sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care…
One of my duties is to ensure that Northern Ireland has timely access to clinically effective and cost-effective medicines. We do that through a formal link with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). As givinostat is a new treatment, routine access in the Health and Social Care (HSC) system is…
Principal Deputy Speaker, thank you very much. I thank also the proposer of the motion and the Members who moved the two amendments. I do not think that we can ever spend too much time raising awareness of the harms of substance use and putting a focus on all that we can do collectively to try to address this topic.…
Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I begin by thanking Deborah Erskine for bringing the debate to the Chamber this afternoon. It is an important debate that reflects a serious problem, one of many serious problems in health and social care delivery. It is a timely debate, certainly for me, because, on 18…
The independent Fiscal Council made clear that for us to deliver health and social care services on a par with England would require our budget to go up to £104 to £107 for every £100 spent by NHS England. In fact, the Appleby report said that, if we were to include social care, we would need £109 for every £100 that…
I thank the Member. There have been a number of initiatives. Consultants have been validating the waiting list. More procedures have been carried out by the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, which is the regional centre for PEG procedures. Training has been provided by the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick…
I thank the Member for his follow-up question. I do not have a specific answer for him on that transition, but, across a number of healthcare services, transitioning to adulthood is far from good enough in my opinion. It is an issue that has exercised me since taking up post. I think, for example, of ADHD and autism.…
I thank the Member for his interest in this important issue. I assure him that the strategic planning and performance group (SPPG) is looking at this. One of the big issues is hybrid closed-loop systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes. The SPPG will bring me its recommendations for a future…
I am more than happy to provide the up-to-date figures for the Member and my assessment of whether we are moving in the right direction and of what more, if anything, can be done to protect our staff.
I thank the Member, and I share his concern. Those things are societal issues, I am afraid, but it is a matter of utter regret that they are making their way on to health and social care campuses and that they are happening to health and social care staff beyond the curtilage of hospitals and other health and social…
The cost of a cross-border scheme would depend on the procedures that we commissioned and the number of people we commissioned them for, so there is no set figure.
It would be if I had the funding, but I gently remind the Member of what I said earlier. We made a bid of £135 million to tackle our waiting lists. That included a significant sum to treat — the figure of 4,000 patients springs to mind. I would love to be able to do it. It was popular. It was successful. It made sense…