Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
As the Minister will be aware, a decision was taken to close minor injury units (MIU) in Bangor and Newtownards, albeit quite recently, and to relocate them to the Ulster Hospital. Does the Minister agree that, for people who have no car and have to rely on a taxi to get to the ED at the Ulster Hospital, it is an…
Those public transport arrangements are a matter for the Department for Infrastructure. As I have said, Minister Kimmins, Minister Muir and I discussed community transport and how we might better realign it to get the sort of outcomes that we are looking for. At this stage, with the resource and financial constraints…
We are aware that there is vaccine hesitancy. I am not sure that the research suggests that it is quite as embedded in the societal psyche as some people think. We are not currently spending money on paid-for advertising such as TV promotions, but we will work with the primary care sector to encourage people to take…
I am aware that we are going to have a booster programme this winter. It will be linked in with the influenza vaccination offer as normal. I am not across the detail, so I will have to write to the Member.
I say gently to the Member that it is not me who takes steps; the Western Health and Social Care Trust has to take steps. The trust is very aware, as are the other trusts, of my opinion on how we need to leave no stone unturned in trying to address waiting lists in those EDs. That is well understood. In the short…
We are aware of your longer-term plans to invest in and, hopefully, build a new emergency department at Altnagelvin, but people need to see immediate action today. You talked about the fact that we are coming into additional winter pressures, and I appreciate that that has been acknowledged, but what immediate action…
It is partly to do with the environment in which people are working. Two of the seven emergency departments that I visited — the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast — were very modern. When I go to a really busy ED where the waits are measured in days rather than hours, I notice…
Yes, I can commit to saying that we will not cut the budget. I do not wish to cut that budget, but one of the frustrations is that, every week — maybe not every day but certainly multiple times a week — people come to me and make the argument, "If you invest a bit of money in this, you will get a great saving", like…
Thanks to the Minister for that answer. I know that that will be disappointing to people. Given that the number of people who benefit from the independent living fund in Northern Ireland is reducing, will the Minister commit to keeping the same number of places open and open them to new applicants?
In an ideal world, absolutely. In the current world, with a £614 million gap in funding, it is simply not possible. I have had to stop going to my permanent secretary and saying, "What do you think about reopening this or putting a bit more into that?", because the answer is, "I am the permanent secretary and the…
As I said, we are at the point where we can say that we do not use agency nurses. We are now addressing locums, because using them is a very expensive way to do business. That is not to say that locums do not have their place — of course they do — but we have become over-reliant on locums and are not using them for…
Go raibh maith agat. I appreciate that. I understood, when asking the question, that that would be the likely response. Minister, what steps are you taking to improve the terms and conditions for staff in Health and Social Care? How will the strategy specifically reduce the service's reliance on agency staff?
I am sorry, the Member might be confusing me for a walking encyclopedia. Those are statistics that I do not have to hand. There are many statistics on health and social care. Those are important ones, and all I can say to the Member is that I will find that out and write to him.
As I said, we are trying to drive down the waiting times and handover times for all ambulances going to acute hospitals. For some time, there has been a cross-departmental working group that involves the Department for Infrastructure, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and my Department. We…
I thank the Minister for that answer, which leads in to my second question. What assurances can he give that the Department is investigating ways to improve hospital transport provision for less urgent and outpatient appointments?
I understand that the Member is geographically wedded to the South Eastern Trust. My focus, of course, has to more broad and on the whole of Northern Ireland. Yes, we are absolutely looking at ambulance waiting times. One of the other things that we are doing though — I am doing it with the Minister of Agriculture,…
I will diverge from the Member's assessment and analysis of where we are. I understand that, as a spokesman for the Opposition, he comes at it from that angle. I do not see a fix for this outside the Executive working collaboratively, so I am not in the business of pointing a finger at any other Minister. I have made…
I am told that the Finance Minister has washed his hands of the issue by telling health unions simply to contact the Health Minister, while the Executive Office will not even reply to correspondence from the health trade unions or me requesting a meeting. Does that not show that, whilst the Finance Minister, the First…
Health and social care trusts are responsible for staffing. The regional recruitment of newly qualified nurses is therefore led by the trusts, in partnership with the Business Services Organisation (BSO). It takes place twice per annum. The most recent regional recruitment exercise for newly qualified nurses received…
On that point, when I visited the Royal Victoria Hospital, more than one person in the urgent care unit — it is on the first floor, from memory — had a flask and packed lunch with them. I asked if they had been sent by their GP, and they said, "No, we didn't bother trying to phone our GP. We came straight here". They…
I hear what the Minister says about keeping people out of EDs, but we are all alive to the fact that the EDs are full today, have been for some time and are under pressure now. What confidence does the Minister have that the plan will make things any better come the winter? In the Minister's response to the original…
As stated, I hope to be publishing that winter preparedness plan in the next two to three weeks. Certainly, the four sessions are over. I was very pleased with how the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer went about their business. I was extremely pleased with the appetite among stakeholders to attend those…
Last November, the chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine called the Minister's winter preparedness plan "too little, too late". Will the Minister give a timeline for the release of this year's winter preparedness plan and outline the lessons learned? How will it improve the ability of A&E departments and…