Debate contribution: Winter Preparedness Plan
Debate contribution by Mr Alan Chambers on .
- MLA
- Mr Alan Chambers
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 10 November 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Winter Preparedness Plan
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5225404
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome last week's announcement on pay parity. The motion refers to the uncertainty that has surrounded pay for our health and social care staff and the knock-on effect that that has had on planning and morale in the service. However, we now have clarity and certainty for those staff, so I want to take a moment to acknowledge the work of Mike Nesbitt, the Minister of Health. From the day that he took office, the Minister made clear that pay parity was not optional but essential. He also did the right thing earlier this year when he said that he was committed to honouring the pay awards. The fact that we are in a position where the Executive have, at long last, agreed to the request that the Health Minister made six months ago to deliver parity is hugely welcome, but it is also tinged with some frustration that it took so long. Our healthcare workforce have endured years of strain winter after winter and crisis after crisis. As MLAs, I trust that we can all recognise that pay parity is not a reward but a basic recognition of the value of their work. It is a cross-party Executive commitment that parity should be maintained. The agreement secured by the Minister last week is therefore not simply about remuneration but about safeguarding the future of our health and social care service. While it will not be easy, I particularly welcome the indication that, instead of staff having to wait into the year for their annual uplift, the Minister expects that he will be able to offer some degree of immediate uplift at the start of the financial year next April. The publication of the strategic preparedness plan has been helpful, but the Minister probably agrees with me that even more important is the planning and work under way in individual trusts and their planning documents. Good progress has already been made in reducing ambulance handover delays. As we know, this winter, like all winters, will be difficult, and a report is coming out about a strain of flu that is circulating. If that comes to fruition here, it will make the situation even more challenging. For the weeks and months before us, the message must be one of stability and shared purpose. With pay parity delivered, the Executive and Assembly must support the Minister in helping the system to help as many patients as possible. In the coming weeks, our hospitals are likely to focus even more on freeing up capacity currently occupied by those who are medically fit to go home. As MLAs, we all have a responsibility when engaging with local families. That means constructive engagement, not headlines. We must also be mindful of those who stand on the sidelines offering commentary but no solutions — the hurlers on the ditch. It is easy to criticise but much harder to negotiate and deliver. The Minister did the hard work, and the results speak for themselves. I commend the Minister for securing on pay what all other parties said that they wanted to deliver but spent many months actively choosing not to.
524 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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