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. I assure him that work on the proposed changes to the legislation is a key focus for my Department and that I am committed to ensuring that the work is completed without undue delay. The Member may well come back to me and say that there has already been undue delay. He can make that argument,…
I thank the Member for his question, and I agree with the sentiment of it, although I caveat that by saying that there are things that are beyond our control. The rise in building costs and in building materials has been much higher than anybody — any economist, any politician or any Chancellor of the Exchequer —…
I thank the Member for her supplementary question, and I acknowledge, of course, the time that she spent in previous years in the maternity hospital. I will not endorse the thought of those fees being excessive, because I think that, to reach that conclusion, we need to break them down and analyse them line by line. I…
I thank the Member for her question. I have asked my officials to identify the key lessons from the new maternity hospital project and ensure that they are applied ahead of signing any contract for the new children's hospital on the Royal Victoria site. My officials are working closely with all parties involved in the…
I thank the Member. A range of initiatives are under way to help to build and sustain that workforce: the social care workforce strategy, which I have already mentioned and which will be key to addressing recruitment and retention in the sector; the launch of the new level 2 safe and effective care practice…
I thank the Member for the point. I am not aware of that individual constituent's contractual relationship with her employer. It may well be a private-sector matter, in which case the Department is, probably, limited in the extent to which it can intervene. However, if the Member wants to provide me with the details,…
I agree with the Member that listening is absolutely important. As Minister of Health, I listen to people, not just those in the Department. I listen to anecdotes, but, more importantly, I like to listen to people who are at — to use an old-fashioned phrase — the coalface. I do that all the time. I was in a care home…
I thank the Chair of the Committee, who is speaking in her personal capacity as an MLA. Yes, that is an issue but it is one in a range of issues that we have to look at. We have to think outside the box and have that blank-page start and ask, first of all, "What are the issues?", and there are specific, rural issues…
Yes, I can assure the Member that there will be an immediate consequence in what I am calling "blank-sheet planning" for next winter — and, indeed, earlier than that. As she correctly identifies, the issue has been the flow, which can be blocked at any point between a patient arriving in an ambulance at an acute…
I thank the Member for her question. Following the publication of the consultation report, the social care collaborative forum was established with the intention of working with my Department to implement the proposed reforms. The forum provides the cross-sectoral leadership that will be critical to adult social care…
I was recently in Downe Hospital. The urgent care centre was one of the areas that I visited. It is a magnificent development. Indeed, the consultants and nurses in that urgent care centre made the point that, in the past, people who lived in the vicinity of that hospital would have made their way to the Ulster…
I thank the Member for that follow-up question. We have been increasing the number over recent years. Would I like to increase it yet further? Yes, of course I would. Would I like to provide a timescale? Yes, I would, but the fact is that the budget does not permit me to start detailing that sort of plan to the…
I thank the Member for his question. Given the logistics involved, no consideration has been given to asking the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust to reopen the inpatient ward or minor injuries unit at Bangor Community Hospital. I believe that the Member is aware that that service, along with the associated…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank Pádraig Delargy for securing the Adjournment debate. It is an important issue, and I very much accept that. Let me start with a very important positive. I am fully supportive — fully supportive — of the need for a new emergency department at Altnagelvin Hospital. I am aware of the…
I thank the Member for giving way. I just want to address Mr Carroll's concerns. He might be aware that a new policy is coming forward called Right Care, Right Person, which is a collaboration between the PSNI, the Department of Health and the Department of Justice, and it will address that very concern.
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I begin by acknowledging and thanking the mover of the motion. I have known and worked with Órlaithí Flynn for long enough to know of her genuine passion for the area of mental ill health and of her willingness to set aside party politics to get consensus. We will see that at the end of…
Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker, and thanks to all Members who have contributed to this important debate. First, I recognise the passion and commitment of every Member who has spoken. Autism is not a stranger to my family, so I believe that I have some grasp of the challenges, concerns and needs. I absolutely…
Principal Deputy Speaker, thank you very much. I thank the Chair of the Committee and Diane Dodds. I assure Mrs Dodds that, once the figures have been firmed up, they will, of course, be made available to the Committee. I also thank the Business Committee for scheduling the debate. I see no reason to delay the House…
I beg to move I am seeking the Assembly's approval of the draft Period Products (Department of Health Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. I am pleased to be able to introduce the regulations as part of a journey that began with the introduction of a private Member's Bill by former…
I thank the Member for his intervention. I will come on to that in a moment, and I will also touch on something that Mr Dickson talked about when he mentioned double diagnosis. That is when one goes to a GP and then to an ED. Is that second diagnosis really necessary? To repeat, the moral injury that staff are feeling…
Deputy Speaker, thank you very much. I thank the motion's sponsors. It is always important to test our mutual understanding of the issues and our passion for finding fixes. I am sure that there is not a single Member who does not recognise that the health of our people is the single most important issue that we face,…
Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, thank you. I will be finished before 2.00 pm. I thank the Chair of the Committee and the others who have spoken for their broader support for what we are achieving. I want to address two specifics. I will take them in reverse order. Mr Carroll mentioned a constituent of his. I have not…
I beg to move Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I seek the Assembly's approval for the making of the draft statutory instrument (SI), which will amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 — the "HMRs", as they are known — and the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. That will enable the…
Legislative Consent Motion: Tobacco and Vapes Bill That this Assembly endorses the principle of Northern Ireland’s inclusion in the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill to introduce a progressive smoking ban across the UK and to stop vapes and other nicotine products being branded and advertised to appeal to children, insofar as…