Debate contribution: Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry Final Report

Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on 22 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Mike Nesbitt
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 22 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution (made as a minister)
Business: Ministerial Statement
Heading: Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry Final Report
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5637747

Text

I begin with an unconditional apology for the evil that was perpetrated in Muckamore Abbey Hospital, as confirmed by the inquiry report, which was published last week, on 18 June. I thank the leader of the Opposition. Today is Opposition day, and, when I asked him whether he would make way for the statement, he agreed without hesitation. Thank you, Mr O'Toole. I believe that that is the definition of a responsible Opposition. I invite Members to reflect on the words "Muckamore Abbey Hospital": "Muckamore", a location; "Abbey", a place of Christian values and practice and a sanctuary for visitors; and "Hospital", a place for care and compassion. The words "Muckamore Abbey Hospital" therefore suggest the perfect home for the vulnerable, but, for far too many, for far too long, it was anything but. That is a true scandal, and, for that, I offer an abject apology from me and on behalf of the entire health and social care (HSC) system. That apology means little on its own, and the 106 recommendations in the inquiry's report are a testament to that. I thank the inquiry chair, Tom Kark KC, and his colleagues for the report and for the care and diligence that they took in conducting their inquiry. The amount of evidential material provided was considerable, as was and the number of witnesses who spoke to the inquiry, and I thank all who helped uncover the scandal. As I said in my initial response on Thursday, the report must be a watershed moment for the treatment and care of the most vulnerable in our society. Anything less is unacceptable. It is unforgivable to let down those who rightly expected the health system to look after their loved ones. They placed their trust in the system to keep their loved ones safe and to provide them with the care and compassion that they needed. Again, I can only say sorry. What happened has been devastating. It has devastated trust, devastated confidence in healthcare and, above all, devastated lives. I am struck by the report's identifying families as feeling guilty when they saw the devastating CCTV footage. They felt guilty because they felt that they had failed their loved ones. I say this to those families: your emotions are natural, because you are decent, caring human beings, but it was not your fault. Rather, it was the fault of healthcare professionals who did not share your caring, loving values. You were let down, and you were failed. You were then not believed — not believed — when you sounded the alarm. Mr Speaker, we should all be human. If it were you or one of your loved ones in Muckamore, how would you want to be treated? Humanely, I suggest. That it has taken a public inquiry to get to the bottom of issues that were raised over a number of years, when they could and should have been addressed at the time, is so, so wrong. For that, I am truly sorry. I am sorry that families had to fight so hard and for so long to have their concerns taken seriously. I am sorry that they had to relive painful experiences so openly and in public in order to make the system understand. I am sorry that the services that they should have been able to trust, without a moment's hesitation or second thought, so badly let them down. I pay tribute to the bravery and perseverance of all the families who have made sure that their loved ones have had their voice heard, starting when the initial allegations of abuse were raised in August 2017 and continuing through the work of the inquiry to the current day. I do not underestimate the toll that that has taken on you and the personal cost incurred from your being required to relive experiences so publicly through your engagement with the inquiry. I can only hope that the publication of the final report, with its 106 recommendations, in some way vindicates your efforts and determination. I also acknowledge the health and social care staff, past and present, who engaged positively with the inquiry. It has not been without cost to them, and, in some cases, a very considerable cost, but their engagement was vital. I also thank those from outside our health system who assisted the inquiry with its work. Many findings, conclusions and comments in the report made for uncomfortable reading. One such suggestion was that the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust did not consider that evidence from families and patients should have been given equal weight to its own records. Equally, I was concerned to read in the report:
"an adversarial and oppositional approach was adopted by the Trust to the Inquiry's methods."
That is not what I would have expected, or wanted, to be the position that the trust adopted. Given the trust's central role, I can inform Members that I am already scheduled to meet trust representatives later this afternoon. I expect them not only to provide an initial assessment of the report but to account specifically for the inquiry's stinging criticism of the trust's approach to the inquiry.
On Thursday, I reacted to recommendation 2 of the report, which allows the Department of Health up to six months to make public whether it accepts the report's recommendations or explain why it does not. I want to do much better than that because we owe it to those who suffered, their families and friends and to the future of public confidence in the delivery of health and social care. I have observed significant cynicism suggesting that lip service will be given to the 106 recommendations in the report and that the report will be left to gather dust on the shelf: that is not my style. I am determined that it will not be an open-ended process, and I give Members my commitment that my Department will move swiftly to respond to the recommendations, starting with accepting No 106. I shall set up a small consultative working group to discuss redress once I have met some of the families, which I shall do as soon as we agree dates. We have started work on the recommendations, and we shall continue at pace. Some have financial implications and will need detailed consideration. Our considerations will include identifying interfaces or alignment between the inquiry's recommendations and other work already being progressed by my Department. For example, work is progressing on the introduction of a duty of candour. At its core, the work is focused on strengthening a culture of openness and honesty, and work is being taken forward on two separate pieces of legislation. The first is on an organisational duty of candour for Northern Ireland that will place a legal duty on the HSC to be open and honest in defined circumstances where harm has occurred. Secondly, we are participating in the UK-wide Public Office (Accountability) Bill or Hillsborough law, which will place individual statutory duties on all public officials, including those in the HSC, to act in the public interest. Work is also under way in other areas, such as the implementation of the new learning disability service model, which will provide a lifetime model of responsive services for those with learning disabilities. Work is also ongoing to implement the recommendations set out in the ‘Equity of Access and Outcome’ report, which examined the future role of registered nurses in learning disability in supporting people with learning disabilities. Let me re-emphasise: the safeguarding of those who are most vulnerable in our society is a key focus. That has been demonstrated by the adult safeguarding Bill that is progressing through the Assembly. Members will be aware that the Bill's progress was paused earlier in the year to enable the findings from the inquiry to be published and considered in conjunction with the Bill. The work will now restart. I commit to Members that the Department will consider the implications of the inquiry's recommendations on the proposals in the Bill and will ensure that any necessary adjustments are made without delay. Finally, while the inquiry's report helps us understand the failings of the past and provides a road map for the work needed to address those issues, it is vital that we now move forward as a health and social care system and, importantly, as a society into a safer, more inclusive and accepting future for those who are most vulnerable. To that end, I am convening a summit at the end of June that will bring together Health and Social Care leaders, including trust chairs and chief executives, as well as the chairs of the newly established patient safety and quality committees. At the summit, I will set out my vision and expectations for our collective responsibility as an HSC system to strengthen patient safety, culture, governance and accountability. I shall bring Members further details and updates on progress against the recommendations as my Department and the wider HSC system work through the report. I commend the statement to the House.

1,513 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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