Debate contribution: Causeway Hospital: Emergency General Surgery
Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 12 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Causeway Hospital: Emergency General Surgery
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5786296
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for his question, and his passion for his local area and its hospital. I am not going to say yes or no to his question, even though it is a fair question.
I have been Health Minister for just over six weeks, and I have had the pleasure of meeting each of the health trust leads and their senior leadership teams, and I am convinced that they have the same single ambition as anybody in the Chamber, including myself, which is to improve on and provide the best health and social care service. It is undeniable, however, that there are issues and problems. We have waiting lists, and our inboxes are full of issues that our constituents face daily. However, work is under way at a very high level on cross-trust collaboration, and I am actively involved in that conversation with the trusts. That collaboration needs to be developed further, and some people could, perhaps, consider that in the future. Northern Ireland has a population of only 1·9 million, and, in a compare-and-contrast with across the water, there are those who say that a single trust approach would work. The experts have so far said that that would not be the right approach for Northern Ireland. We need to ensure, however, that the further transformation is informed by clinical practice and by those who receive care, and that we consider every effect and impact that any change will have at any level. However, we need to look at driving ambition and continuing to work in the same vein as we have for the past 10 years and inject some positivity and service improvement right across the system.
281 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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