Debate contribution: Women's Health Strategy
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 5 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Women's Health Strategy
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5524581
Read the official Assembly record
Text
With your indulgence, Mr Speaker, I may require an extra minute to answer, because this is an important issue of some depth. Work on a women's health action plan is advancing, with policy and service developments ongoing across many areas. I intend to publish the plan later this year, after we have received and considered the final report of the public listening exercise that my Department helped fund. The exercise is now complete, and I am very grateful to the thousands whose voices are helping shape the final action plan. The final report on the listening exercise is expected by the Department in the coming weeks. I understand the level of anticipation around the action plan, which is about recognising and responding to the significant disparities that women continue to face in health outcomes and access to care. Much work is already under way within current resources. We are trying to reduce waiting lists and change how we deliver key services to better meet women's needs. Last year, for example, my elective care framework's implementation and funding plan included £3·5 million in recurrent funding to provide over 4,000 additional assessments and 900 treatments in gynaecology. That funding is helping improve patient pathways, enhance diagnostic capacity and provide additional theatre and outpatient sessions. We are also in the process of establishing two regional endometriosis centres, one in the Western Health and Social Care Trust and the other in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. Too many women are still waiting too long, but the position is improving. Compared with the end of September 2025, by the end of December 2025, 3,000 fewer women across Northern Ireland were waiting either for treatment or for their consultant-led first outpatient appointment for gynaecology, and I expect that progress to continue. When it is published, the action plan will describe the wide range of policy and service developments that are supporting women's health, what has been achieved to date and what is achievable in the years ahead within current resources. The action plan will also aim to encourage positive dialogue on women's health and well-being in our health and social care system and in society more broadly. I look forward to updating the House in due course.
373 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Awaiting analysis
This record has not been analysed yet. It is not counted in any total until it has been assessed.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.