Mike Nesbitt
Strangford · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Think public service, wisdom, generosity and courtesy. Think integrity, insight and curiosity, the lack of which is a key criticism of the two public inquiry reports of recent days.”
“I spoke during Members' statements earlier about the untimely passing of the Western Trust's chair, Dr Tom Frawley CBE. I repeat my condolences to his family, his friends and his many admirers.”
“I absolutely share the Member's ambition to see people living in the community. The trusts provide a range of evidence-informed programmes for individuals who are awaiting assessment. For children and young people, early intervention teams deliver proactive needs-led programmes that are neurodiversity-affirming and trauma-informed.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Western Trust has assured me that it has undertaken a comprehensive early engagement exercise with stakeholders, involving all political parties, local businesses, service users, community groups, the Patient and Client Council (PCC), local media, community planning partners and Departments, including mine and D…”
“The role played by social workers in delivering safeguarding and family support interventions is complex and challenging. The work frequently pivots on multidisciplinary collaboration, with parents and carers positioned as partners in the formulation and delivery of safeguarding and support plans.”
“I fully recognise the impact of the current delays on individuals and families. The situation has arisen due to a combination of factors, including funding that falls short of objectively assessed need and previously missed opportunities to reform health and social care delivery.”
The complete record
Every one of 5,312 lines we hold for Mike Nesbitt, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 28 of 107.
“Operationally, any drug testing, be it on-site at festivals or off-site, would need to be subject to licensing by my Department. Any proposal and resulting application will need to demonstrate compliance with licensing requirements. <BR /> <BR />I want a review of DAMIS to begin shortly, and the intention is to build on the existing testing infrastructure and consider regional needs for enhanced testing possibilities as part of that work. <BR /> <BR />It is important that we understand the accuracy of any testing service. We do not want to give false positives or false negatives. In addition, any on-site testing would not address the issue of drugs that have been taken before people enter the sites. I understand that that has been an issue at such events.”
“That information is used to inform related advice and alerts to service users, vulnerable groups and those in key services. <BR /> <BR />I am aware of the outline proposal that has been put forward by Queen's University Belfast for a rapid drug-testing model, but I understand that there are still resourcing, licensing and operational queries with it and that further thought and consideration will be needed. It is important to note that, as it is currently set out, the proposal is not for a model for on-site testing at events such as festivals; instead, it is focused more on wider prevalence testing of drugs that are in circulation. The proposal is not just for my Department and the PHA to consider: there are enforcement issues for the PSNI and Justice colleagues, and conversations may also be required with local government colleagues.”
“The system, which is operated by the Public Health Agency but overseen by a cross-departmental steering group, allows individuals including service users, peers, the PSNI, Forensic Science Northern Ireland, prisons, probation, treatment and support services and homeless service providers to submit information to a central contact about substances of concern. The information is considered and noted for prevalence information, or further information is sought or, indeed, alerts issued to those likely to come into contact with substance users who may be at risk of harm. Importantly, through DAMIS, we have the ability to proactively seek the testing of substances that are seen to cause harm. That comes up through our partnership working with the PSNI and Forensic Science NI.”
“In addition, a number of years ago, as part of the needle and syringe exchange service (NSES) scheme, we worked with the UK Government to allow foil to be handed out, encouraging people to move away from injecting substances to inhaling them. That harm reduction method reduces the risk of blood-borne viruses or infections and discarded paraphernalia. From 1 April last year to 31 March this year, 3,829 packs of foil were dispensed across needle exchanges across Northern Ireland. At a recent four nations meeting on drugs held in Scotland, Scottish officials said, I believe, that, in one year, they handed out 400,000 foil dispensers to encourage people to smoke rather than to inject. That was about reducing harm. <BR /> <BR />Most pertinent to today's debate is the drug and alcohol monitoring and information system known as "DAMIS".”
“The Public Health Agency also offers nitazene, fentanyl and xylazine testing strips at all needle exchange sites across Northern Ireland.”
“If you move from the purist position of saying, "All these substances are illegal, so it is purely a criminal justice matter to be led by the Police Service of Northern Ireland", you get into an area in which you are making judgement calls. If you want to prevent harm, do you provide services for people who are taking illegal substances? I believe that that is the right approach, but it is ultimately subjective. It is a judgement call, as I say. <BR /> <BR />Harm reduction has become key to the Department's work. We deliver a number of harm reduction services including opioid substitution therapy; a needle and syringe exchange, which we are always seeking to expand and develop; take-home naloxone kits; low-threshold outreach services; and rapid drug disposal bins.”
“<BR /> <BR />I acknowledge that, given the legal position of many of the drugs, what we are talking about can be a sensitive and controversial area, so it might be helpful to provide a brief overview of how the issue sits in our substance use strategy, 'Preventing Harm, Empowering Recovery'. The strategy was agreed by the Executive and recognises the importance of reducing the availability of and access to illicit and illegal drugs. I acknowledge the strong collaborative work by the PSNI, the organised crime task force's drugs subgroup and the Department of Justice in that area. <BR /> <BR />Think about the phrase "preventing harm".”
“<BR /> <BR />The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) examined the personal, household and area characteristics associated with drug-related deaths. That NISRA report highlights the disproportionate impact of factors such as economic inactivity, poor housing, unemployment, disability, poor mental health and living alone on drug deaths. For example, unemployed males were more than twice as likely to die from drug-related deaths as employed males, and social housing residents accounted for 39·3% of deaths despite making up only 12·8% of the population.”
“Those deaths were all preventable, and we need to recognise that they are driven by wider social, environmental and economic issues. To prove that point, here is a fact: substance use-related deaths are over five times higher in areas of greatest deprivation. That takes me to my passion of health inequalities. We have to work collectively across government to address not just the causes of health inequalities and substance use but their underlying drivers — in other words, the causes of the causes. It is not enough to say that substance use can cause severe physical and mental issues up to and including death. What causes people to use those substances in the first place? We have to do more to understand the causes of the causes.”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I thank those who tabled the motion and the amendment and everybody who has contributed to the debate. <BR /> <BR />Let us pause and think about the human cost of what we are talking about. Clearly, the debate was sparked by events at summer festivals such as Emerge. The investigations are ongoing, so it remains unhelpful to speculate, but all our thoughts should be with the families and friends of those who were most affected and the loved ones of those who tragically lost their lives, no matter what the cause may turn out to be. <BR /> <BR />I also acknowledge the pain of anyone who has lost a friend or family member to substance use. In 2023, we had 169 drug-related deaths and 341 alcohol-specific deaths.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. I think that he is right to say that when Portugal introduced that regime, the number of deaths and medical incidents did drop significantly, but that was because the new policy was matched by very heavy investment in resources within the community. That investment has dried up, and the trend is now reversing. That is my understanding.”
“I have too long a list of broken deadlines to do that to the House.”
“It will also include other actions and ongoing developments ranging from maternity safety to sexual and reproductive health and cardiovascular health, as well as links with my Live Better initiative, which is trying to address health inequalities. <BR /> <BR />I know that we have a long way to go to improve gynaecological services in Northern Ireland, with over 54,000 women waiting to access gynaecology outpatient services and over 5,000 women on inpatient and day-case waiting lists. As the Minister, I am determined to deliver significant improvements in that area. I am also determined to deliver the women's health action plan. I would love to give Members a timeline and a deadline for its publication, but I will not do so until I am sufficiently confident that we will deliver on that deadline.”
“I recognise the need for improved public awareness, information and education on all women's health issues from an early age across the life course. While it is not possible to commit investment to any public awareness campaigns, it is envisaged that the Public Health Agency will work with my Department to deliver what is possible in the area through other means. That will be a key part of the women's health action plan that is being developed. That plan will seek to bring together the range of ongoing developments in women's health. The ongoing work on the GIRFT recommendations and on endometriosis specifically will be an important part of the plan.”
“Nurse specialists will signpost patients to services in the community or to their GPs. There are also pathways to refer patients to general, psychological and pain services for further support. The Southern, South Eastern and Northern Trusts have more limited psychological and emotional support services available. However, they also have the ability to refer general psychological and pain services for women who are suffering from endometriosis. <BR /> <BR />In principle, I am open to exploring cross-border collaboration where there is a clear population health need and a feasible, sustainable proposal that can benefit patients and health systems in both jurisdictions. However, my current preference is to focus on improving capacity and performance in the HSC by implementing the GIRFT recommendations that I referred to.”
“Trusts are working with my officials to develop plans for the medium and longer term that will expand gynaecology capacity from primary care through to secondary and tertiary care. That work will take forward the GIRFT recommendations as well as service models, such as integrated gynaecology hubs, that will provide sustained additionality, modernising our services and addressing waiting times. It will also provide additional theatre capacity to ensure that we meet the requirements to secure the two endometriosis centres in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Work has commenced with trusts to determine what services are available for the psychological and emotional support of women diagnosed with endometriosis. The role of clinical nurse specialists cannot be overestimated in providing the complete holistic approach that is required.”
“Gynaecology patients will benefit from the additional package of measures within that investment, as the service plans to target long-waiting patients in gynaecology via mega-clinics, waiting list initiatives and additional theatre sessions, as well as targeting red flag and time-critical patients. Between April and July 2025, an additional 1,968 women on secondary care waiting lists have been assessed or treated using waiting list funding at a cost of nearly £1 million. More activity is planned. <BR /> <BR />The elective care framework implementation and funding plan sets out proposals for how we will systematically tackle the backlog of patients and how we plan to transform services to meet anticipated future demand.”
“That is one area that the newly appointed regional clinical director for elective care is determined to tackle. Examples of scaling up practice include the expansion of additional nurse-led ambulatory and procedure clinics and clinical e-triage protocols, ensuring that women are directed to the right place or diagnostic test at the right time. Improvements in gynaecology services, including the endometriosis service in the short, medium and longer term, will be aided by my recent announcement of 6 May. At that time, I outlined how funding in this year's budget had been invested across three areas of waiting list activities: to expand core capacity to reduce the red flag time-critical gap; to increase core routine capacity; and non-recurrent funding to start tackling the backlog of patient waiting lists.”
“<BR /> <BR />In April this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an update on the management of endometriosis that recommends the use of relugolix for treating symptoms of endometriosis in adults of reproductive age who have had medical or surgical treatment. I am pleased to advise that that treatment is now available in line with the criteria set out via the process for the managed entry of new medicines on a cost-per-case basis. Individuals who require access to treatment should discuss the matter with their hospital consultant in the first instance, who will then decide whether it is appropriate to make a cost-per-case application. <BR /> <BR />Current waiting times in secondary care also need to be equalised, with recent information still showing significant variation across the region.”
“The accreditation process is designed to maintain high-quality standards of care and ensure that patients have access to specialist treatments. <BR /> <BR />The regional endometriosis task and finish group is working with GP gynaecology enhanced services to consider which patients can be managed by their GP or transferred to be managed via the gynaecology enhanced primary care service. The activity located in the service will depend on direct access to scanning and procedure facilities. Work is ongoing in each gynaecology condition pathway to set the criteria for referral into the GP enhanced clinics, including for endometriosis. Discussions are also under way to provide secondary care specialist nurses who will in-reach to GP ES that provide procedures such as pessary clinics.”
“<BR /> <BR />Members should be aware that the Belfast Trust and the Western Health and Social Care Trust previously held provisional accreditation as a British Society of Gynaecological Endoscopy (BSGE) endometriosis centre and that that accreditation was impacted during COVID. Part of the group's remit will be to determine how quickly accreditation can be achieved again in Northern Ireland, recognising the need to balance theatre capacity for urgent or cancer surgeries with acknowledging our funding constraints. The accreditation of endometriosis centres is a critical aspect of providing high-quality care for patients with that complex condition. The BSGE accredits centres where gynaecologists work in appropriate clinical teams, audit their outcomes and maintain their surgical skills.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. She has put that on the record. <BR /> <BR />The SPPG has established a regional forum with trust, primary care, Public Health Agency, policy and professional representation. That body will take forward the recommendations. A regional engagement forum is to be established to ensure that patients' voices are heard. Eight regional clinical pathway groups have been established as part of the GIRFT regional group. Those groups will promote consistency and standardisation across gynaecology services. One group is focused on the delivery of the endometriosis pathway and the service needs of patients who present with the condition at primary, secondary and tertiary level.”
“Gynaecology services across the region will need to increase their workforce to allow that service reform to take place. <BR /> <BR />GIRFT recommends that robotic gynaecological surgery should be considered in the management of complex cancer cases. It is envisaged that that will be a regional resource and that sessions will be available for gynaecologists across the Province to enhance their skills and help attract newly trained consultants. <BR /> <BR />Nuala McAllister made a point about medical misogyny. A gynae robot is in the process of being approved regionally, so that will be a regional resource. It is different from the device in the Belfast City Hospital, which is a urology robot. The use of the gynae robot will be particularly important for complex endometriosis and other gynaecological procedures.”
“Further work is ongoing to explore the transfer of some of the longest waiters in secondary care who meet the criteria for management in the primary care elective service. That work is being undertaken in partnership with the strategic planning and performance group (SPPG), the Gynaecological Collaborative and the GP Federation Support Unit. That pilot will start in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and Belfast Trust areas in the near future, and it will be implemented more widely, should it prove successful. SPPG is also working with the GP Federation Support Unit to map out training requirements. That will enhance the gynae GP enhanced services (ES) workforce to enable additional activity to be delivered in primary care and further reduce pressure on secondary care.”
“As of 31 August, 1,683 patients have been assessed and treated through that service. It is expected that that activity will incrementally increase, with full activity to be delivered by 31 March next year.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. Every day is a learning day, and this is a big learning day for me on this issue. <BR /> <BR />I also advise that gynaecology services in primary elective care have been re-established. They are now at 100% capacity as of 1 April 2025. An additional £1,730,986 of funding has been committed out of the £2·9 million recurrent funding for primary care elective gynaecology pathways. That additional investment will enable over 6,000 patients to be managed by 16 gynaecology GPs with enhanced skills, and that will be across 18 host practices.”
“Additional investments are also required to develop gynaecology ambulatory hubs in secondary care. Those hubs will provide consultant and nurse practitioner procedure clinics and will also manage rapid access for women who require assessment and treatment within a short time frame.”
“I want to see them implemented, but I acknowledge that some will require additional funding, which does not currently exist, and there will be a lead-in time for delivery. For example, I am fully supportive of clinical e-triage, but additional funding will be required to expand consultant sessions to provide the initiative and ensure that patients are seen in the right place at the right time by the most appropriate person. Initiatives such as direct to test, advice and triage will ensure that slots that are available in secondary care are used to their maximum benefit, particularly for complex conditions such as endometriosis. <BR /> <BR />Regional, standardised clinical criteria and standard operating procedures are being developed. Those will support e-triage and maximise consultant capacity and time.”
“Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I am sure that you think that I will start by thanking Members because that is the standard procedure, but I do not think that this was a standard debate. It was a particularly important debate, and I thank Linda Dillon in particular for setting the tone. I am going to read her remarks when they are published in Hansard not because I was not listening but because I was, and I think that they are well worth a second airing. You probably think that I am going to say, "I am well aware of the need to do better in this area", but I know that your reaction to that will be, "Forget the words. Give me actions". <BR /> <BR />We have 20 actions in the GIRFT gynaecological report from last year. They have all been accepted in principle, so they are departmental policy.”
“<BR /> <BR />Ms Bradshaw said that it might be better if I were to define my priorities. I first came to the House as Health Minister on 3 June 2024, and I defined my priorities: health inequalities, cancer care, waiting lists and mental health. I am happy to repeat those, but it is simply not true to say that I have not defined my priorities. Those remain my priorities, as well as respecting our staff, and I hope and am confident — much more confident than I was a week or two ago — that we will find the solution that our health and social care workforce deserve.”
“That begins with fair pay, so let us show our workforce not just in words but in our actions that we value them. Let us be not the last to act but the first to lead. <BR /> <BR />I will take a moment to finish by commenting on a couple of specifics that have been mentioned. Mrs Dodds talked about my reaction to the maternity hospital. To be clear and to put it on the record, I signed off on the trust's preferred option to fix the water issues in the new maternity hospital after receiving independent, professional advice. I did not simply accept what was being proposed to me. Mrs Dodds, if I heard her correctly, seemed to suggest that there was the same situation at the acute mental health inpatient centre at Belfast City Hospital. That is not the case. That hospital is still operational.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are over halfway through the financial year. Pay increases have been implemented elsewhere in the UK, but our staff are still waiting. It is not just a financial issue; it is a matter of morale, retention and respect. We often talk about the goodwill of the workforce. Let us be clear: goodwill is a finite resource. Everybody has their limit, and, once you burst through that limit, there is no easy way back. <BR /> <BR />I remain committed to working with colleagues across the Assembly and Executive to try to deliver a fair and timely pay award while supporting the management of our overall budget. I also welcome any engagement from the Committee in helping us to move forward together. If we want a world-class health service, and I do, we must treat our staff with world-class respect.”
“I try not to do that, but the meeting was genuinely scary because her simple message was, "We've had enough. This happens year-on-year, and it only happens in Northern Ireland, so we will ballot, not on industrial action but on strike action. We're learning the lesson from the previous strike action, when we thought that we were too soft, putting in so many derogations and mitigations that our message did not land sufficiently. No derogations and no mitigations this time. We will come out on strike, and we will focus on band 5 nurses, who most closely interact with patients". I was scared. I looked at the Chief Nursing Officer, who was sitting beside me, and she looked scared. The Royal College of Nursing is preparing to ballot its members not on industrial action, I emphasise again, but on strike action. The implications are massive.”
“I acknowledge ongoing engagement with trade unions and professional bodies. Their advocacy on behalf of staff has been clear and consistent, and it is deeply rooted in the desire to protect patient care. We will continue to engage. <BR /> <BR />I will mention a particular meeting. After the previous Executive meeting, I happened to go straight into a meeting with the Royal College of Nursing. Its chief executive, Nicola Ranger, had flown in from London. I met her along with Rita Devlin, the local director. Nicola Ranger is a very personable individual, and I like her a lot on a personal basis, but that meeting was scary. I see, hear and read a lot about health and social care delivery that I could allow to scare me if I wanted it to.”
“Without additional support, trusts may be forced to propose measures that have potentially catastrophic impacts on services, with direct consequences for patients. <BR /> <BR />As has been noted, I issued a ministerial direction in May requesting approval to implement the pay award. The Executive have not reached a position that would allow my Department to proceed, but I am hopeful, perhaps more so than I was this time last week. The delay is regrettable. It sends a damaging message to our workforce that its dedication is not matched by political will. It also places Northern Ireland at risk of significant industrial action, with formal disputes already lodged by the Royal College of Nursing, the BMA Northern Ireland consultants committee and hospital dentists at the British Dental Association in Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are working hard to deliver savings internally. To date, £155·6 million has been identified, but the scale of the challenge means that we cannot bridge the gap alone; it is unprecedented and, we believe, unmanageable. The decision to ring-fence £165 million for waiting lists from within the existing budget rather than provide it as additionality, has intensified pressure on the HSC, with the requirement to make further savings and efficiencies that will inevitably have consequences for services. <BR /> <BR />I acknowledge that the Department received £25 million in non-recurrent funding through June monitoring, but the overall funding gap remains at over £400 million, excluding pay.”
“I will move to the main issue at hand. Following approval of the final Budget for 2025-26, the Department of Health received, as Members said, an allocation of approximately £8·4 billion. However, after factoring in inescapable increases — inflation, demand, national living wage commitments, the ring-fencing of waiting list funding, the shortfall in employers' National Insurance funding and the pay body's recommendations — my Department faced a funding gap of over £600 million. Of that, about £200 million is needed to implement pay awards of 4% for doctors and dentists and 3·6% for our Agenda for Change staff. I am on record as saying that I find that differential in awards most unhelpful, and, I believe, the Royal College of Nursing sees it as a slap in the teeth for its members.”
“It must be quite the luxury for Mr Carroll to live in a world of ideology, sheltered from the realities of the challenges of delivering health and social care.”
“If I set aside the major concern that I have about the accuracy of the figures that he was referencing, it might be helpful just to mention that the total waiting list initiative spend from April 2021 to July 2025 has been approximately £347 million, of which £248 million has been spent in the independent sector. The £347 million has enabled 1,205,820 patients to receive an assessment, a diagnostic test or treatment, of which, over half a million were managed by the independent sector. Of course, in an ideal world, I would like to see all that money being invested in core services in HSC. I suspect that Mr Carroll already understands that we do not live in an ideal world. However, the money that has gone into the independent sector has undoubtedly saved and lengthened lives.”
“They deserve to be remunerated not just adequately but fairly and because, when we pay our staff fairly, we are not just balancing the books but affirming their value, hopefully, boosting their morale and strengthening the future relationships in healthcare. We can no longer remain in a situation where our staff continue to feel rightly that they are always last in line for consideration of pay awards, well behind the other nations and regions of the United Kingdom. Timeliness is therefore important. <BR /> <BR />I will turn briefly to Mr Carroll's amendment for a moment.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have often said that, to deliver health and social care, you need buildings, beds, equipment and medicines but all that is as nothing if you do not have the workforce. Every week, I am out and about meeting members of the workforce. I am struck continuously by the remarkable combination of professionalism and compassion — professionalism based on training and experience and compassion based on empathy and humanity. Why would we not want to reward that workforce appropriately and in a timely manner? That goes to the core principle of pay parity: it is a matter of principle, fairness and respect. I take the issue seriously because it speaks directly to how we value the extraordinary work that is carried out daily by our Health and Social Care staff.”
“It strongly supports the use of the MMR vaccine. The possible links to autism and Crohn's disease have been investigated and proved to be wrong. The MMR vaccine remains the most effective and safest way of protecting our children. I hope that that gives some clarity in the face of those comments from the United States. <BR /> <BR />For the debate, I will make two points by way of context, if I may. First, I understand that every Minister faces massive challenges. No Department has the budget that it requires to achieve what it wants to achieve. I am also aware that every budget for every Department in some way contributes to tackling the social determinants of ill health, whether lack of education, social exclusion or economic inactivity. I get it.”
“With your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, before I respond to the debate, I want to respond to some of President Trump's remarks about the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and the MMR vaccine. <BR /> <BR />I can advise that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the responsible body for regulating all medicines in the United Kingdom. It monitors continuously the safety of all medicines, including those used during pregnancy, and there is no evidence — I repeat: no evidence — that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children. I note and welcome a strong statement backing that up from Ema Cubitt, the Independent Autism Reviewer. <BR /> <BR />With regard to jabs, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the expert scientific advisory body in that area.”
“I very much appreciate the Member giving way. Will she explain to me how I am supposed to set a budget that deals with the pay rises and pay recommendations before those pay recommendations are made?”
“Like many other Members, and like all the Members who contributed to the debate, I wish that it were different — of course I do — but I can only assure Members and those patients who are affected that I am doing all that is in my power to deliver a CAR T-cell therapy service in Northern Ireland as quickly and as safely as possible.”
“<BR /> <BR />My departmental officials will continue to work closely with cancer policy and clinical leads in the Republic on the development of opportunities for cross-border cancer services, consistent with the commitments in the All-Ireland Cancer Consortium (AICC) memorandum of understanding. Until we can provide that treatment ourselves and in the absence of capacity in the Republic, we will, I am afraid, continue to be reliant on services that are available in Great Britain, particularly in London and Manchester, and that are currently available to treat patients who live in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />That is the reality of the situation that we face today.”
“Unfortunately, health officials in the Republic have advised that their CAR T-cell therapy service, which, as Members have referenced, is based at St James's Hospital, Dublin, is currently operating at capacity and cannot support additional patients accessing those services from Northern Ireland on a cross-border basis, so please let us not raise false hope. The Republic is at capacity. We have also been advised by University Hospital Galway that plans to commence CAR T-cell therapy later this year are contingent on staff recruitment. That said, the benefits of providing specialist care closer to home are undisputed. In that regard, we will continue to scope and assess the feasibility of cross-border service models.”
“I very much recognise the benefits of working jointly with the Republic of Ireland, and I have had good meetings with the previous and current Health Ministers in Dublin on those areas of health and social care where there are clear mutual benefits. Officials from both jurisdictions meet regularly. They consider opportunities for cross-border cooperation in cancer service provision. We want to ensure that we can collectively deliver the best possible services and patient outcomes for people across this island. The rate of development of specialist therapies for cancer, the complexity of new regimes and the standards for delivery make that more challenging than in other health areas.”
“As I said, unfortunately, a project of that scale will take a long time. It is not expected to be completed until the financial year 2030-31. I know that there will be disappointment and frustration with that timeline, but I again assure Members that I want to see the ward progress as soon as possible.”
“It is completely understandable that there is a sense of urgency about the situation, and it is a sense of urgency that I share. The ideal situation is for us to have CAR T-cell therapy services here so that patients can be treated closer to home and avoid the disruption to family life. <BR /> <BR />I assure Members that work is ongoing to deliver that CAR T-cell therapy service here. It will be delivered as part of the planned wider cancer service development currently being progressed as part of a new regional haematology ward based at Belfast City Hospital. I am pleased to advise that I have approved the project to proceed and have made funds available, subject to final approvals from departmental officials, to allow development proposals to proceed as soon as possible.”