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 will answer that question with a generalisation. Although we have five geographic health trusts, it is my ambition that the trusts will deliver standardised, regional services that are consistent no matter the condition or issue that they address. One of the challenges that I have put to the chairs and chief execs…
I thank the Member for her question, and I found it most interesting to attend that event yesterday in the Long Gallery. I will attempt to answer her question by referring to the rare diseases action plan, because the disease that she is talking about is just one of many rare diseases. The point that I was trying to…
I assure the Member that I am on that case. It is a matter of coincidence, I believe, that one of the very first events that I went to in this Building after being elected for the first time in 2011 was organised by my predecessor as Minister of Health, Robin Swann. It was a constituency event about Duchenne, so it…
It is my ambition that there be a UK-wide facility that would bring on any drug. NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency give us advice, and that is the advice that we follow. In this instance, it is my understanding that the Belfast Trust makes the decision on whether this young man is…
I will take a broader run at answering the Member's question. He will be aware that the area of health inequalities is where I want to put a focus in my remaining time as Minister. The term "health inequalities" is almost shorthand for three things: inequalities, as in outcomes; health inequities, as in access to…
My Department is committed to ensuring equitable and timely access to cancer diagnosis and treatment for all residents in Northern Ireland, regardless of location. It is important to understand whether individuals in rural areas face different challenges or barriers compared with those in urban areas when it comes to…
I have made it clear that my ambition is to rebalance how HSC services are delivered to facilitate a greater proportion of care being provided by primary care, community care and social care to get it as close to people's homes as possible to relieve some of the pressure on secondary care. That will require a…
That is exactly the point that I am trying to make. If we can deal with the, as I describe it, fairly toxic issue of GP indemnity and put a long-term solution in place, it gives me, I think, permission, as it were, to go back and ask, "Can we now look at an issue that is very toxic for me and for Members of the House,…
It is my understanding that we are negotiating with practices rather than with individual GPs. I want to be careful in what I say, because we are not over the line, and it is an issue that, in my assessment, has become quite toxic over the past number of years and is affecting the relationship between the Department…
I recognise that arrangements for clinical negligence indemnity are a matter of concern for GPs locally. My Department has been exploring options for a long-term future for GP indemnity. I recognise that progress in that work has taken longer than expected. However, in fairness, that reflects the complexity of the…
It is a fact that people who visit emergency departments are not in a good place. The longer they stay, the greater the risk to their health. There are solid statistics for that. I am not aware of the exact statistics on cancer that the Member mentions, but the general point is made and is accepted. It is not…
I thank the Member for his interest in the area. I have visited the rapid diagnostic centre in Dungannon. It is a first-class service. I was assured that, if you present with one of those vague symptoms, you will be checked in, you will be assessed, you will have your scan and, within two hours, you will get your…
I absolutely agree with the Member. After Christmas, I visited seven EDs, including Altnagelvin, which, as the Member knows, is the oldest of our type-1 EDs. Altnagelvin is more than ready for a replacement ED, and I hope that there will be one, although it may be five years before we get to that point. When I was in…
Oncology teams and surgical teams that manage cancer patients strive to minimise the need for emergency department visits. Every hospital trust in Northern Ireland has a 24-hour systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) telephone advice service. Patients are encouraged to contact their treating unit through that service if…
I thank the leader of the Opposition for those comments. I am more focused on the three-year plan. I do not see what is wrong with reading the three-year plan and seeing that I have targets of 46,000 additional appointments and 11,000 procedures between now and 2027.
I thank the Member for his question. I have already published a three-year plan that covers my intentions and ambitions for the remainder of the mandate. We will shortly follow that up with a more detailed and costed plan for financial year 2025-26.
I thank the Member for her interest in the core grant scheme. When I took up my post, the scheme effectively did not exist, in that no money had been allocated to it. I was not happy with that position, so, following negotiations with the permanent secretary and others, we identified £1·8 million to go towards the…
I thank the Member for his supplementary question. I agree that there is an irony in the fact that, despite being warned of its potential impact on healthcare delivery, Members will vote for a Budget and then write to me almost daily to request that I consider additional funding for a new service here — bowel cancer…
The draft Budget allocation does not align with the draft Programme for Government, as it provides no additional funding for waiting list reductions, despite waiting lists supposedly having been identified as an Executive-wide priority. Indeed, the draft Programme for Government states: "It will not be possible to…
I have been talking with officials with a view to expanding it, and that is part of the three-year plan that I published recently. It is dependent on budget and finance and on workforce. I would like to see it offered from the age of 50 upwards, and that is an ambition that I will work towards within the confines of…
I thank my colleague for the question. The Department is guided, as I have said, by the UK National Screening Committee. It is an independent committee that advises Ministers and health services across the four UK countries on all aspects of screening. Its recommendations are evidence-based about whether to introduce,…
I thank the Member for her remarks. The awarding of the contract was the appropriate and best way to go forward. I accept that there have been workforce issues. There has also been an issue with some equipment, but, as I said in my previous answer, any issues with accreditation are more about technical and…
I join the Member in encouraging women not to be shy and not to be put off going for screening because it is important that they do so. The issues about Belfast's accreditation I will characterise as more technical than real issues with regard to the quality of the screening, and that is being addressed. For the…
I thank the Member for her interest in the issue, which goes much broader than a protocol. I have no doubt that she was shocked, as was I, at the time that passed before there were the right interventions. The screening programme encompasses a range of services provided by the trusts, GPs and the Business Services…
Trusts are responsible for delivering the screening services that they provide. They have a statutory duty of quality. Each trust is responsible for maintaining internal structures to support quality improvement and local coordination of screening services. They are also charged with ensuring that their workforce is…