Debate contribution: Waiting Lists: Action Plan

Debate contribution by Mrs Deborah Erskine on 20 February 2024.

MLA

Mrs Deborah Erskine

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

20 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Waiting Lists: Action Plan

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4380780

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the debate on the motion, which calls for action on waiting lists. As has been said in the Chamber, we are contacted daily by constituents who are sitting on waiting lists in Northern Ireland. Many simply do not know how long they will be on those waiting lists. That is an unsustainable situation. We have to be realistic about the challenges. It has been pointed out — my friend, the Member for Upper Bann Diane Dodds pointed it out — that, whilst money is important and extra investment is needed, we must also work to increase the training of students and the recruitment and retention of surgeons, doctors and nurses to ensure that there is a sustainable workforce going forward. We are competing with higher pay in the likes of the Republic of Ireland, which Danny Donnelly pointed out in his contribution. That can affect health trusts, such as the Western Trust, in areas like mine that are closer to the border. We have to tackle that issue. An holistic approach to care must also be in place, as I pointed out in my interventions, not just to drive down waiting lists but to stabilise the system. We need a root-and-branch plan going forward. We need to maximise our existing capacity by, as the Health Minister pointed out, designating more sites as dedicated elective centres; having seven-day theatre schedules and multidisciplinary mega-clinics; and establishing regional diagnostic centres and rapid diagnostic centres. There will also be the need to make sure that we organise our services in the most appropriate way through our transformation. That will also take a change of mindset among the public. We must realise that travelling to another site outside our trust area may be needed. It is on all of us to step out of the Chamber and make that point to the communities that we represent. I say that as somebody who comes from a rural area.

I want to make progress. Our public transport and roads must reflect the transformation that is needed once we talk about this, so there is a cross-departmental element. Moving to some of the comments that were made by Members, I thank Diane Dodds, who mentioned the stark waiting-time figures and the postcode lottery. She also mentioned ways in which we could find solutions. Moving to Colin McGrath's contribution, I hope that I have seen a Damascus road conversion for the SDLP today — I really do — because he talked about plans and strategies that sit in rooms. When they come out of those rooms and get dusted down, I hope that the SDLP will step up and stand by those plans and will not go on picket lines to be parish-pump on health issues. I hope it will act with all of us in the Chamber to implement transformation.

I want to make progress. I thank Liz Kimmins for her contribution as Health Committee Chair. She said that we cannot keep doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes. I welcome that, as Chair of the Health Committee, she will use her voice to drive forward some of that change. I mentioned Danny Donnelly's contribution, and I thank him for pointing out the differences in pay, which are causing issues. Alan Chambers mentioned the stress and pain of those who continue to be on waiting lists. Addressing that will take further intervention from our health service, as was pointed out. I thank Órlaithí Flynn for her mention of mental health services. I congratulate Alan Robinson on his maiden speech and ask him to please pass on the good wishes of all in the Chamber to George Robinson. We wish him well in his retirement. I thank Alan and Cara Hunter for sharing their personal stories of being on waiting lists, which are not easy places to be. I thank Nuala McAllister for raising the issues of equity of service and discharge times, which are also important. She also raised succession planning and how we go forward with consultants and surgeons. It takes a while to train people in our health service, so we need to be realistic and start planning for some of that stuff now. I thank my colleague Gary Middleton, who paid tribute, as did a number of people in the Chamber, to our dedicated health staff who are at the heart of all this.

I want to move on. Paula Bradshaw raised important points on investment and timing and on consultants' time. I agree with her that, if we are taking funds and putting them elsewhere to shape our waiting lists, surely that can be invested in Northern Ireland. That is a fundamental point. I thank Sinéad McLaughlin for raising gynae issues, following our women's health debate, and Sorcha Eastwood for specifically mentioning cancer. We send our good wishes to her family and her husband. She raised a deeply personal thing in the Chamber, and I thank her for that.

Justin McNulty talked about burnout among trust workers, and it is important to note that in this debate.

Regrettably, in relation to health, Gerry Carroll again let party politics creep in. I agree with him about fair pay for workers, but let us strip politics out of health. If we take away anything from the Chamber today, let it be that we work collectively to deal with the issues. As I said, we will all have to walk out of the Chamber and try to put the message to our communities that we need to change and reshape our health service. I regret the fact that some are party politicking on issues where there are people behind the statistics, as has been stated in the Chamber today.

I would like to move on. The Member has had enough time to make his comments today. Lastly, I thank the Health Minister for coming to the Chamber to respond to the debate. I welcome his commitment to tackling this issue: he pointed out his elective care framework. I am pleased to see that he reads DUP manifestos: he referred to the £1 billion that we would like to see invested in healthcare. I welcome the fact that he will review the waiting list framework, which was published three years ago. While he said that the review will conclude in, I think, June, my plea is that, from that point on, we see action in relation to that action plan. Certainly, from my point of view and that of my party, there was a collective view in the Chamber today that we want to see action on that. I thank everybody for their comments in the debate today.

1,113 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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