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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.
I beg to move Principal Deputy Speaker, I seek the Assembly's approval for the making of the set of draft regulations. They contain important further provisions relating to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (HMRs) to support the ongoing supply and deployment of vaccinations across the United Kingdom. In response to…
It is fair and reasonable to expect the trusts to review their policies in the light of what we appear to be about to legislate for. Absolutely. Mr Deputy Speaker, my officials wanted me to reflect on a number of points raised during the Second Stage debate, but that would incur your admonishment, so I will truncate…
I welcome the opportunity to respond to the debate on the amendment, which I will support. I am conscious that Mrs Dodds was asking to make an intervention. If that is still the case —
Absolutely. Last winter, there was a series of days in January when 400-plus people were in emergency departments having had decisions to admit, but they could not be admitted because no beds were available, but over 500 of the people occupying those beds had been deemed as being fit for discharge. If we can crack the…
I do not have specific plans for rural areas of Newry and Armagh, but I have plans for the whole of Northern Ireland. I accept that some of the challenges of provision are more severe in rural areas than in urban areas. The Member will be aware that the most important thing that I wanted to do — the one that has…
The Member's questions are all important. There are those in Health and Social Care who know a lot more than I do — as clinicians and operatives, they are much better qualified — who think that type 2 diabetes could be a total epidemic that could flood our ability to deliver health and social care. The Member…
I am aware that we are the only part of the United Kingdom not participating in the audit. I want us to participate in it, and officials do not disagree; they want to participate in it. There was something missing — I am having a mind blank — from our diabetes service that we have now rectified, which opens the door…
One of the benefits of going with you on the visit to Belleek was in my being aware that there are specific challenges not simply in rural healthcare delivery but in rural border healthcare delivery. That is a particular challenge, given that we cannot compete with Sláintecare on wages and salaries. It is attractive…
I cannot make that commitment as I stand here today, because I am not sure of what the implications would be. I am not aware of why those services had to be withdrawn. It would be foolish of me to commit to reinstating them when there may be good reason why it would not be easy or possible to reinstate them. However,…
The Member will be aware that I commissioned academic research on the prevalence of ADHD. We have that report, and I have now asked for an options paper. I make this promise to the Member: once we have that options paper, I will bring those people and organisations together to find the best solution.
That is a major challenge, and I accept it. I have been contacted about that on many occasions. I have met parents of children who were on medication that was privately prescribed and, then, the prescriptions were no longer honoured. I understand that GPs have no obligation to do so. They are encouraged to look at…
Yes, there is a very clear need to do so. Belmont University has a desire to follow up. Meharry is also keen to follow up to talk about the social determinants of health inequalities. The National Cancer Institute continues to have a relationship with the Department of Health and, indeed, Queen's University. I was…
The Member knows that I have a passion for addressing health inequalities, and Nashville's health inequalities are similar to ours. I was at Meharry Medical College, which was the first in the United States exclusively for African Americans. It was affirming to discuss the social determinants that the college is…
I am aware of the £1·8 billion that has been spent on agency and locum staff between the financial years 2020-21 and 2024-25. We incur that expenditure to ensure that safe and effective services are sustained, so it is important that we do so. It increases short-term capacity. Given the current gap between demand for…
The Member may categorise my trip as he wishes, but I met a lot of healthcare providers in Nashville, and, as we speak, they are upstairs at a follow-up meeting, so some progress has been made on cooperation on healthcare initiatives. I was not fully across what the Member says, however. I was not fully across what…
By standardising data capture, improving timeliness and reducing manual returns, Encompass will enable more consistent and reliable analysis of the flow, the demand and the capacity. It already supports improved reporting in areas such as inpatient escalation beds. Further work is under way to complete ED corridor…
I am afraid that I am not aware of that specific, but I can ask officials to bring me up to speed. Sometimes, with the roll-out of Encompass, we are still saying that the datasets are not validated yet. I have to accept that two years seems to be the norm for bedding in a system such as Encompass. It seems like a long…
I absolutely do. The Member is maybe suggesting that some of the reduction in waiting lists is not through activity beyond validation: maybe or maybe not. Validation is a very important and necessary process. By the end of the financial year, which is a week or more away, I want to know not that we have exceeded the…
The logic of that is that the answer is yes, but there is a logic to reporting only vacant positions that are under active recruitment because we are so strapped for funding in the Department that that is almost an inevitability. Does it skew the risks and the shortfalls? Off the top of my head, I am saying that, yes,…
Data definitions do not directly measure or describe pressure within Health and Social Care. Rather, they serve to enable the consistent recording and reporting of information across the sector. That consistency supports robust assessments of system pressures using statistical and operational data. The Department…
Yes, there is certainly anecdotal evidence. It seems that, if you visit emergency departments or their environs, you will find people who have taken substances, including illegal substances, that are the motivator for physical and verbal violence towards staff. Well before COVID, I was fascinated to be told that…
The pilots will run their course. I hope that we will end up with body-worn cameras being available to all HSC staff who work in areas where there is engagement with patients or service users where appropriate. Ultimately, however, it will be for the trusts, as it is an operational matter for them. I would like to see…
it would be tempting to say that we can never do enough. However, once again, we are moving in the right direction. I am very much in favour of body-worn cameras, and there is evidence that they are a successful and appropriate deterrent. My focus, Mr McNulty, is on changing the law. At the moment, it prohibits the…
My Department implemented a new violence and aggression in the workplace HSC framework in December 2023. The framework outlines the HSC's commitment, developed in partnership with staff representatives, to ensure prevention, reduction and management of violence and aggression towards staff in the workplace. Since its…