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.
During 2024-25, NI Water invested £1·8 million at Grange waste water treatment works in North Antrim. The Grange waste water treatment works is located to the south of Taylorstown village, and construction is due to be completed in May 2025. The Grange waste water treatment works upgrade builds on the £1·1 million…
I thank the Member for giving way. A quotation on the wall in my ministerial office reads: "If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin." Let me assure the Member that I am not waiting until everything is ready.
I thank the Member for giving way. Your point, which is that you are asking for one thing and one thing only, takes away from what Mr Durkan said, which was that we are not asking for one thing and one thing only but are accepting that a whole-system approach is needed. You know this, Colin, because you are on the…
Thank you very much, Principal Deputy Speaker. I am glad that we have had the opportunity to have this debate and that we have heard from all sides of the House on the issue. Perhaps the Health Minister expected me to raise it during Question Time last week, but we went down a different route, because it was better to…
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. First of all, I will say, "Thank you", because the tone of the debate has been helpful, and there is consensus across the House on some of the themes. We are happy to support the motion, but we thought that we should maybe recognise that, although this is a potential…
Thank you. Your colleague mentioned that, on one of her visits to an A&E department, 60-odd patients were waiting for a decision to admit and 60-odd were medically fit. Sixty patients in an A&E department who should be on a ward is three wards' worth of patients in A&E. The A&E staff have to deliver that care within…
I am sure that Sinn Féin Members will not spend a long time reading an SDLP document, but it includes additional staff. That is the purpose of it. The premise is that the model cannot be introduced unless there are extra staff to deal with it, or you could use the cohorting method, which is a well-recognised method in…
Go raibh maith agat. I thank my colleague Linda Dillon for opening the debate on the amendment. She set out clearly the scale of the challenges that we face and the type of response needed. The points raised reflect what many of us hear time and again in our constituencies about ambulance delays that put lives at risk…
I thank the Minister for giving way. I am sure that, if the Minister was not able to watch the Health Committee meeting on Thursday, officials will have listened to what was said. Will the Minister commit to meeting those who are involved in palliative care provision in order to ensure that people who receive…
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I must say that I am heartened to note the near-universal acceptance of the fact that the issue is not just about the Ambulance Service but about a whole-system response to the pressures faced and about the flow through our hospitals. If I have time, I hope to return to some…
My remarks on ambulance handovers will focus on the Northern Trust, particularly on events on 21 December 2024. On that evening, 14 ambulances were servicing the largest trust, being dispatched to locations in Coleraine, Ballymena, Antrim, Magherafelt, Larne, Carrickfergus and Whiteabbey. On that day, 120 working…
I support both amendments and thank the Opposition for tabling the motion. It is timely because, unfortunately, the problem has not been fixed, particularly since the Christmas period, when my party tabled a motion on ambulance waiting times. Nothing has changed since then, so it is important that, as we move from…
While the motion's intent is to find a solution, it misses the point. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled its amendment. The motion calls for the setting of a 45-minute limit for ambulances to wait before leaving patients in hospital corridors, but where will those patients go? They will go into already overcrowded and…
I suspect that every Member of the House has the same concerns regarding the pressures and delays that the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service faces. Those worries will have been heightened after the recent publication of the Audit Office report. There is no doubt that the current delays are untenable and, ultimately,…
I thank the SDLP for tabling the motion. It is timely, following the publication of the recent Audit Office report on ambulance handover times, and the issue affects everyone in the Chamber. We will support both amendments. In January, the Alliance Party brought a motion on the issue to the Chamber for debate. It…
I thank the Member for giving way. It is not fair or accurate to say that I said that it could be fixed in isolation without further fixes. Later in my speech, I alluded to the additional investment that would be made in band 5 and 7 nurses in emergency departments.
Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle. We all know that ambulance waiting times across the North have worsened significantly. That, alongside the growing delays in ambulance handovers at emergency departments, paints a deeply concerning picture of how patient safety is at risk and the wider health…
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank the mover of the motion. I begin by saying something that none of us in the House should ever tire of hearing, and it is that, day after day and week after week, dedicated paramedics, ambulance crews and all other front-line healthcare workers go well over and above…
Last night, I had my own experience with triage. My son threw his submarine at me and split my eye open, so I had to be triaged through the emergency department at Daisy Hill Hospital. I was most impressed by the efficiency of the triage. Incredibly, when I entered the hospital at 10.30 pm, the emergency department…