Debate contribution: Respite Provision: South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
Debate contribution by Mr Peter Martin on .
- MLA
- Mr Peter Martin
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 April 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Respite Provision: South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4920024
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for Lagan Valley for securing the debate. Like her, I am not on the Health Committee, but, like many others, I watched the incredible and very moving 'Spotlight' documentary 'I Am Not Okay', which explored the experiences of four families caring for children with autism and detailed some of the crises in Northern Ireland's health and care services. In conducting some research for the debate, I came across a petition from the National Autistic Society (NAS), which states:
"Short breaks support is woefully inadequate across Northern Ireland and it is those requiring the highest level of support who cannot access appropriate services. Many short break services have been repurposed as full-time residential homes as families have hit crisis. But even so, there are currently no available residential placements in Northern Ireland."
It appears to me that three distinct areas require improvement. There may well be others. There are probably many Members in the Chamber who are more across the issue than I am. The first area is capacity. We know that, pre-COVID-19, levels of provision and support were far from ideal. Post-pandemic, however, they are really poor. Legitimate questions need to be answered. The second area is staffing. Again, there are differentials between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic levels. The final area is consistency of service provision. It appears to me that each health and social care trust operates its own resource panels, which leads to trusts dealing with cases in slightly different ways. It also appears that family support services are limited for children with very complex needs. I imagine that the lack of respite care, which is what we are talking about today, must have a significant impact on those children's parents. I am sure that it, in turn, leads to some of them experiencing burnout. I also imagine that it puts significant pressure on their relationships. In October 2024, the Minister allocated a welcome £13 million of additional funding for that specific area. Today, we need to know how that money will be spent, what direct impact it will have and when. My two requests to the Health Minister today come from people who know the challenge at first hand: to provide immediate access to short breaks and residential care for families who are currently in crisis in Northern Ireland and to provide the resources needed for the commissioning of services to support autistic people with high support needs and their families, such as short breaks and residential placements. I do not think that anyone in the Chamber will even get close to representing the true feelings of families who are affected by the lack of service provision. The reason for that is that we cannot empathise because none of us is walking in their shoes, but we can ask questions, we can scrutinise and we can demand answers.
474 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.