Robin Swann
North Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for his detailed statement. I know how passionate he is about the subject and how many times he has brought it to the Executive.”
“It has been reported that today will potentially be the warmest day of the year. As we move into the summer and our summer holidays, I want to raise public awareness of wildfires across Northern Ireland, which have been detrimental to farmland and our environment over the past number of years.”
“Wildfires are still having a detrimental impact on our environment and, occasionally, on livestock, but that reduction shows the impact of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service's proactive approach to educating the general public and engaging with rural communities and schools on its fire safety message, which is to stay alert, not…”
“There has been a lot of talk of sport in this place over the past few days, with everybody concentrating on UEFA. One sport that is going on across Northern Ireland at the minute is cross-community and goes across all age groups without fear, favour or distinction: pigeon racing.”
“I want to put on record that, since this place passed the amendment that recognised pigeon racing as a sport under the 2016 Act, over the past five years, pigeon racing clubs across Northern Ireland have been able to obtain £113,000 of rates rebates through the sports and recreation rate relief, allowing many of those clubs to continue ra…”
“There was much coverage on social media over the weekend of an incident in Staines in England, in which a police car rammed a young calf to bring it under control. It has restarted the conversation about animal cruelty. <BR /> <BR />I am dealing with a specific case in my constituency.”
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“The project board is due to report to me in June on an all-encompassing redress scheme so that some of those acknowledgement payments could be processed quickly without the long duress that is needed because of legal requirements. A number of claims have already been put through the normal processes, which will be supported. At this point, we do not have an indication of the financial commitment because the initial cases are coming through to the project board as to what assessment can or needs to be made. <BR /> <BR />However, there is an assurance that redress payments will be paid. This was a failure of our systems, which has to be corrected. I have apologised for it here today on behalf of our service. We also need to rebuild confidence in our systems, and that is why a cohort 3 is necessary.”
“This piece of work, along with the neurology inquiry, the urology inquiry, the inquiry into Muckamore and the work on the duty of candour all serve to reinforce and put structures around the need for us to ensure that our patients come into a health service that we can all be proud of: a health service that we all feel confident, safe and secure entering. That is what every patient should feel, and that is what the reviews that have been undertaken as a result of this piece of work and others will be able to achieve.”
“I thank the Chair of the Committee for his comments about the work that needs to be done. In the statement, I indicated that the Belfast Trust, the RQIA and other bodies are already doing a specific piece of work on neurology. <BR /> <BR />Furthermore, a consultation was launched recently about the duty of candour. It will start to reshape and reassess some of the psychology in our health services across Northern Ireland. There is a realisation of the need to change, an indication of a willingness to change and an ability to change. Among all the professionals in our health service that I have met, that I talk to and that I deal with, there is a desire at their core to do right by their patients.”
“<BR /> <BR />Another piece of work that emanated from the events that led to the patient recall was the Department of Health's review of neurology services. The review commenced in December 2018 and produced an interim report in October 2019 that set out the case for change. Further work on the review was paused in March 2020, owing to the need to redeploy resources to respond to the pandemic. I anticipate that work restarting in earnest in the near future, with significant progress being made before the end of the year. <BR /> <BR />I will end by again thanking the patients and families who have been affected by the recall process. I acknowledge that there is a great deal of work still to do in this area, but I am confident that we have the correct structures and resources in place to complete the work and improve services for patients.”
“On completion of the review of the records selected for phase 2, the royal college will provide the RQIA with a report on its findings, and those will then be shared with the Department of Health and published on the RQIA's website. I expect phase 2 to be completed towards the end of the summer. A decision on the roll-out of future phases of the review will be made following the completion of phase 2. <BR /> <BR />In addition to the deceased patients' review, the RQIA has undertaken two further reviews as part of the response to the neurology recall. 'Review of Governance of Outpatients Services' was published in February 2020 and the review of governance arrangements in independent hospitals and hospices in Northern Ireland has been completed, with final preparations being made to support its publication in the coming weeks.”
“Phase 2 will commence imminently and involve 45 patient records, including the records of those deceased patients whose family members have approached the RQIA with concerns about their care and the records of patients who were included in the Belfast Trust's cohort 1 neurology recall but unfortunately died before either attending or completing their reassessment. The RQIA has commissioned the Royal College of Physicians to establish an expert review panel of experienced consultants from outside Northern Ireland to review the records selected for phase 2 and, in addition, to consider any information shared with the RQIA by the families of the deceased patients.”
“It has been significantly delayed, initially owing to legal issues surrounding the sharing of sensitive information and more recently owing to the pandemic’s impact on resources. The preparatory phase was completed in November 2020, with the formal adoption of operational protocols and a legal framework to ensure access to the relevant deceased records.”
“I have specifically asked the project board to focus on an approach that, as far as possible, provides early resolution for patients who wish to avail themselves of it. In the meantime, all claims received to date in respect of the care provided by the consultant neurologist are progressing as quickly as possible under the standard arrangements for health service litigation claims. <BR /> <BR />Members will also be aware that, throughout the process, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) has been commissioned to undertake a number of reviews. I will first provide an update on the expert review of deceased patients. That review involves the clinical case notes of those of Dr Watt's patients who died in the 10 years prior to the neurology recall. The review was commissioned in 2018.”
“While the main focus over the past three years has been to ensure that Dr Watt's patients are receiving the correct treatment, it was also recognised that those who had suffered harm due to negligent treatment were entitled to compensation. The primary purpose of a redress scheme is to provide compensatory payments earlier than under normal arrangements for clinical negligence, with less distress to patients and lower legal costs. Options for a redress scheme were developed during 2019 and considered in early 2020. Further work on a streamlined process for neurology patients was commissioned but subsequently suspended owing to the need to divert staff resources to manage the response to COVID-19. That work has restarted in recent weeks, and I expect to receive an update on the latest position from the project board in June.”
“<BR /> <BR />The initial review has been completed, and it has established that 46 patients had care that was unsatisfactory and fell below a standard that we expect. Additionally, the review established that, for 45 patients, there is no clinical evidence to support a decision that a blood-patch procedure was required. An interim report by the Royal College of Physicians to validate the trust’s findings independently has indicated that their findings are generally consistent. The trust has contacted individual patients and offered them support. I am sure that all Members will agree that these are very concerning findings. I take this opportunity to apologise publicly to the patients for that and for the distress that it will have caused. <BR /> <BR />A second issue relates to redress.”
“In December 2020, I converted that inquiry into a statutory public inquiry to ensure that it could complete its work with unfettered access to all relevant information. The inquiry team has advised that it is at an advanced stage in fulfilling the remit of the terms of reference. I thank team members for their ongoing work, and I look forward to receiving their report in due course. <BR /> <BR />I also take the opportunity to update Members on a number of work streams that are connected with the neurology recall. The first relates to an epidural blood-patch review undertaken by the Belfast Trust, which is subject to independent verification by the Royal College of Physicians. The review focused on 66 patients who were not part of cohorts 1 or 2 because they had since been reviewed by a different consultant neurologist.”
“The perspective of and impact on patients have been foremost in my mind in the timing of this announcement. It would not be acceptable, for instance, to announce that there is to be a third cohort but not advise patients whether they are to be involved. <BR /> <BR />In announcing a further recall, I also acknowledge the fact that more patients are affected. It is deeply regrettable that any of our patients had that experience. When I consider the total number of patients involved, I find it even more so. I therefore unreservedly apologise to those patients and to their families for any upset and distress that it has caused. <BR /> <BR />As Members will know, in order to address these issues, an independent public inquiry is investigating the circumstances that led to the neurology recall.”
“I met patients and families affected by the recall in October last year, and I reiterated my apology to them for how they have been let down by the health and social care (HSC) system. I do so again here today. Whilst this report is statistical in nature, it deals with individuals, their families and their experiences. Many will have had their confidence in our health service shaken, and I remain committed to helping to restore it. <BR /> <BR />I acknowledge the delay in the publication of the outcomes report and any additional concerns that this may have caused. Whilst the cohort 2 recall and related outcomes were largely finalised last year, the pandemic, understandably, significantly affected the trust’s progress on the identification, validation and preparatory work relating to cohort 3.”
“<BR /> <BR />In light of the ongoing pandemic, all initial recall consultations will take place virtually, with the reviewing consultant making a clinical decision at that stage on the requirement for a further face-to-face consultation. Affected patients have been contacted by the trust by letter to advise them of the arrangements and offer support where required, and a patient helpline — 0800 980 1100 — is available for them in this regard. <BR /> <BR />First, I thank the patients and families involved in cohorts 1 and 2. Their cooperation and patience in this most difficult of circumstances is greatly appreciated. The process will have been enormously frustrating and, at times, distressing.”
“<BR /> <BR />The 276 patients who need a consultation include those who had a continuing prescription of higher-risk medication — for example, epilepsy medication — prescribed by Dr Watt and who had not been subsequently seen by another consultant neurologist. Of the 276 patients, 209 are from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust; 57 are from the Ulster Independent Clinic; and 10 are from Hillsborough Private Clinic. This process will commence imminently and conclude in a few months. In addition, for a further 495 patients who have been identified as currently being prescribed low-risk anti-platelet medication, the trust will require additional information from their GP to establish whether a further consultation is needed, and that process will also commence imminently.”
“In the context that a significant proportion of the cohort 2 patients had an insecure diagnosis, the advice from the reviewing consultants was that it would be appropriate also to review an additional cohort of Dr Watt’s patients, cohort 3. These are patients who were discharged between 1996 and 2012 and who meet certain criteria, alongside a number of patients who had not been reviewed as young stroke patients in the previous recall cohort, due to the agreed criteria around age. The Belfast Trust, overseen by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) and the Department, undertook an initial stratification exercise to assess which patients would require a recall consultation with a consultant neurologist.”
“Although a higher proportion of the cohort 2 patients were assessed as having a secure diagnosis than for cohort 1, there remained approximately one fifth of patients with an insecure diagnosis. The responses to the other questions relating to management plans and prescribing were broadly similar. <BR /> <BR />I put on record my appreciation for the work undertaken by the clinical and administrative staff as part of the recall. Important, too, are the neurology charities, the Patient and Client Council and the more informal patient support groups that contributed to this process. <BR /> <BR />I return to the report.”
“The purpose of the recall was to see and assess individuals to ensure that they were receiving the care and treatment that they required. It was not intended to provide a definitive assessment of Dr Watt's practice. <BR /> <BR />The cohort 2 outcomes report shows that, across both subgroups, of the 927 patients of Dr Watt who were assessed by the reviewing clinicians, 702 had a diagnosis that was considered to be secure and 181 had a diagnosis that was considered "not secure", while, for 44 patients, there was uncertainty in respect of whether the previous diagnosis was secure. <BR /> <BR />It is important to note that a diagnosis that is considered to be not secure does not automatically equate to a misdiagnosis. Other factors need to be considered. The patients involved have been advised of the outcome of their individual case.”
“The patient group concerned comprises two subgroups. The first includes patients in high-risk groups who had been seen by the consultant between 2012 and 2017 but who were discharged back to the care of their GP. That group included patients who had been prescribed anti-epileptic drugs, immunosuppressants and disease-modifying therapies used to treat epilepsy and MS. The second group included patients of the consultant who had been referred back to the neurology service for review by their GP. <BR /> <BR />In line with cohort 1, the main purpose of the second recall was to ensure that patients were receiving the correct treatment. However, the clinicians conducting the review were also asked to consider whether the diagnosis was secure, whether proper management was in place and whether prescribing was appropriate.”
“Members will recall that, in December 2019, the Department of Health published the outcomes report relating to the initial recall of approximately 2,500 neurology patients who had been discharged from the care of consultant neurologist Dr Michael Watt and whose treatment was reviewed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. At that time, the Department provided a commitment that it would carefully consider anyone who had previously been seen by Dr Watt and discharged and then recall any key groups of people who, based on the advice of the consultant neurology team, required a review. A second recall was announced in October 2018, involving a further 1,044 patients. <BR /> <BR />I can announce that, today, the Department of Health has published the 'Neurology Recall: Cohort 2 Activity and Outcomes Report'.”
“I thank the Member. I congratulate him on getting his second jab and on travelling to Ballymena to get it. That is a double bonus for the Member. <BR /> <BR />I will look at the parking issues around Lagan Valley. That has not come across my desk, but, now that the Member has raised it, I will raise it with the trust and see what can be done.”
“However, it is simply not possible to fill nursing positions overnight. I cannot knit nurses. They have to be trained, they have to be invested in, and they have to be recruited. I am thankful for the support of the Executive for the additional places that we secured when this place was restored over a year ago. That commitment was vital. It was unfortunate that we got to a place in Northern Ireland where our nurses and our Health and Social Care staff had to take to the picket line to indicate the reality of how underfunded the health service had been over the past 10 years. We need to address that now, and, with the support of all Members in the House, I am intent on putting it right.”
“I thank the Member. I do not think that racist and reactionary policies sit within my Department, nor does it take such an approach. In the community pharmacy where I received my vaccine a couple of weeks ago, there was a pharmacist from Romania who had recently come to Northern Ireland and got accreditation on the certification and professional list. She was working in that pharmacy delivering vaccines because she was a trained vaccinator. So, there is no reactionary approach. <BR /> <BR />The Member will know well about the international recruitment of nurses, which continues to be progressed by my Department to make up much of the skill set that has been lost. It takes time to train a nurse. We need to fill those slots now, so we have been proactive in the international market, and we intend to keep working to fill many of those slots.”
“I know how much he writes to me and the number of cases that he raises with me in regard to his constituents. I ask him to support me politically in the House and outside of it when it comes to the work that I need to do and the challenges that I face.”
“It is now there; it is now secured. That is what I argued for and got to make sure that we put that investment into our safe staff. We increase our bed numbers when we increase our staff numbers. That allows us to challenge the waiting lists that we have. <BR /> <BR />The Member knows me well enough. I will not come here with empty promises or platitudes. I could have flowery-ed up today's statement and told everybody that it was going to be great tomorrow: I did not. I told everybody about the challenges that we have in the health service and politically in the House. It is not just about the Executive parties getting behind me, as Minister of Health, or the health service but about everyone in the House getting behind the health service and those who work in it. I know that the Member has that at his heart.”
“We have started that investment with our 300 trained nurses this year, next year and the following year. That is not enough. It will not recoup the losses of years of the wrong policy of disinvestment in our National Health Service. The health service was one of the things that were seen as easy to cut money from because it made up nearly 50% or more of the Budget. It is not easy to do that; once you do that, the easy place becomes the challenging place. <BR /> <BR />The major expenditure in the Department of Health is on staff. That is the first place that is looked to for cuts, whether it be bursary placements, staff training places or nursing training places. That is why the safe staffing investment that I mentioned in my statement is so critical. Until a few weeks ago, that was being hived off into a monitoring round bid.”
“I thank the Member. I have been in the House for as long as he has; I think that we came in on the same election. The difference is that I am standing here now. We took this position when many other parties in the House passed on it because we knew that there was a job of work to be done. <BR /> <BR />The Member referred to the decreasing number of beds. That is commensurate with the decrease in investment in staff that we have seen. There is no point in buying a bed if you do not have the staff to support it. It is the same process as the Member talked about. I am sure that he listened to my statement in detail. I highlighted our need to invest in our staff. There is no point in having the facility if you do not have the staff to look after the people who need the care. It is about investment.”
“We had three years when we were unable to meet the challenges and make the transformations that were needed. Now is the time, as we come out of the pandemic, to serve the people of Northern Ireland by addressing all their health needs equally and equitably.”
“Therefore, I ask the Member and some of his party colleagues to step away from the party political campaigns and support the staff who are working in the hospitals to deliver the entirety of the services in those facilities. As I have said, we do not have enough staff. We need more staff, so no one will be done away with. We do not have a big enough footprint, and we need every square foot that we have. It may not be that everyone gets every service that they want delivered on their doorstep, and that has to be the reality, if we are to address the waiting lists that we are talking about today. It also has to be about a political commitment from all in the House to Bengoa and all the other reforms that have been talked about. Now is the time to implement those changes and stop talking about them.”
“As I have said before, we will need to utilise every square foot that we have. Each hospital may not provide every service that it has in the past. The challenge of the regional approach is to put an orthopaedic surgeon in one centre where he can see more patients than can be seen in three orthopaedic services doing a lesser degree of work in a number of other capacities. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Member for his commitment. I believe that some of his councillors have started a campaign for a long-term commitment to the Downe and Daisy Hill Hospitals. Again, it is that sort of language that unnerves staff. There is nothing more unnerving for people working in our health service than social media campaigns about saving their hospital when it is not under threat.”
“That will serve Northern Ireland well because the staff want to get back to the day-to-day work of seeing and treating patients.”
“We have seen that people are now willing to travel, as I said in an earlier answer. The challenge is no longer for health professionals or patients; the challenge is for us politicians to let the clinical demand be met by the clinicians, who can deliver a service, no matter where it is, on a safe site, using the green lists and regional priorities so that those who are in most clinical need are seen more quickly than by using the postcode in which they live or want to be treated. <BR /> <BR />One of the outworkings of the pandemic has been the breaking down of silos across the entire health service. From primary care hospitals to community pharmacy, everyone working in the healthcare family has pulled together and pooled the resources.”
“I thank the Member. The Member mentioned the South West Acute Hospital, and I thank her for the invite. It seems like a long time since I visited the SWAH and one of the COVID centres in her constituency. <BR /> <BR />It is about that challenge, and, as I said in answer to an earlier question, we have seen that professionals and healthcare staff are willing to travel. It is not just surgeons; the entirety of the team — anaesthetists, ICU nurses and everybody who makes up the surgical delivery team — are willing to travel to access theatre capacity, recovery beds and ICU beds for their patients. The professionals in our health service very much see people as their patients. <BR /> <BR />People are now willing to travel. Realistically, Northern Ireland is not a big place, especially if you need a surgical procedure.”
“Due to the underinvestment in our National Health Service over the last 10 years, the independent sector is there and is meeting the need. If surgeons are capable of working in both systems, I am not in a position to prevent them. We have used the same surgeons to bring down our waiting lists when we have utilised procedures that we need in the independent sector. It is about meeting the demands of our patients as quickly as possible.”
“The Member highlights the duality of our health service in Northern Ireland, which, as I mentioned, challenges me. One core principle that I hold dear as a unionist is our National Health Service, which is free at the point of use, free at the point of delivery and free at the point of care, irrespective of your ability to pay or your need. Due to underinvestment in the service and staff over the long term, the independent sector is meeting the needs of those who can afford to pay. It is as simple as that. <BR /> <BR />What we need to do and what my statement is about is invest in our National Health Service: invest in the people who work in it, in its footprint, in its equipment, including its diagnostic equipment, and in its theatres so that the demand on and the opportunity for the independent sector is not as great.”
“Cancer services are being provided for the entirety of the north-west, meaning Donegal as well as Londonderry, in Altnagelvin. There is a memorandum of understanding on kidney transplants between the Belfast Trust and the Beaumont Hospital in the Republic of Ireland. It is about all those services that we can deliver cross-border and utilising the specialities on either side of the border. The ability to simply utilise the health service in the Republic of Ireland to address our waiting lists is not a reality, but the utilisation of the independent sector there is something that we are and will continue to be engaged in.”
“I thank the Member. Part of the independent sector that we are engaging with, have utilised and will use is the independent sector in the Republic of Ireland. The issue is where we can get a service at all. The Republic of Ireland has its own waiting lists, as, I am sure, the Member is fully aware, so it is an illusion to think that it will accept patients from Northern Ireland simply to reduce our waiting lists. Its focus will be elsewhere. It is about using the independent sector in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere to get people seen as quickly as possible. <BR /> <BR />There are cross-border initiatives that are still being utilised. In children's cardiac services, the majority of our children who need heart surgery are being seen in Our Lady of Lourdes in Dublin. That is a great initiative.”
“<BR /> <BR />This is about how we approach the challenge of getting all those pieces to fit. I said that we had seen the breaking down of silos, and it is now about making sure that they produce. We are in the early days of the Budget in regard to bids, funding, what we will need to spend and what we can spend. It is about having a recurrent budget, so that I can give surety to staff, hospital trusts and the independent sector that the commitment that we make today will still be there in five to 10 years' time and that they will still get that financial support.”
“We saw that there was a need for a massive number of ICU beds because of the long-term COVID patients who were in them. We have funded 75 ICU beds across Northern Ireland. Today, there are, I think, 68 or 69 people in ICU beds with non-COVID conditions, so we are already getting near to the capacity of our funded allocation of ICU beds. <BR /> <BR />COVID has shown us that we have to escalate and move into our surge model in relation to ICU beds. That is where we have had to bring in staff — ICU nurses, anaesthetists and all the rest — from across our system. That is why yesterday's announcement by the Belfast Trust about the de-escalation of the Nightingale, which I reaffirmed today, is such a positive step. We can use that facility and ensure that it is a green-list site for a regional approach for more complex operations.”
“We have just started a new financial year, and I have £35 million for tackling waiting lists. That is what, we have assessed, we can use in this calendar year. It is a calendar-year budget, a 12-month budget. New Decade, New Approach allocated £50 million to the Executive collectively for tackling waiting lists. That was last year's money. That money came, and it has gone. We also used it for some of the utilisation of the independent sector. That is where we are with regards to that. That £35 million is for utilisation of the independent sector. <BR /> <BR />It is about long-term, continued investment to improve the services that we have. It is about upgrading the theatres and ICUs in our hospital capacities to make sure that we can progress and process as many operations as possible.”
“The same narrative can easily start around the attractiveness of a facility and its ability to retain staff. <BR /> <BR />This is about long-term commitment to the staff and to the footprint of what needs to be a regional service. I applaud some of the examples that have come from the Western Trust. The example that I used was the excellent facilities in the South West Acute Hospital, which were underutilised for a long time. Now, the majority of surgeons across Northern Ireland would gladly go there because it allows them to see their patients. They know that it is an appropriate use of facilities and that it is a place that can provide the care and attention that they need. This is about how we make sure that that continues over the next 12 months.”
“I thank the Member for her question. The phrase that she used was "attract and retain staff". That puts the challenge back on us, as politicians. There is nothing so great as a good health campaign coming up to an election. I remember that, when I had not long been in the House, a chief executive of a local trust pointed out to me that one thing that puts pressure on the recruitment and retention of staff is for a hospital or service to be continually in the press, with people saying that it will close. Nobody wants to move to a service that is publicly said to be under threat even if, in reality, it is not under threat. It is the same as the old adage that it is never the Education Authority (EA) that has to close a school: there is a rumour that the school will close, and the parents start to move the pupils out.”
“<BR /> <BR />To answer the Member's specific question about potential funding, as I said to Ms Ní Chuilín, the allocation will be made to the voluntary community groups, charity organisations and specialist organisations that have experience and knowledge of how to address the issue at a community level, to challenge what needs to be challenged and to address what needs to be addressed. The challenge that I have is that the funding is non-recurrent. It is not long-term funding, and that puts additional stress and strain on the people who are already doing that work and will continue to do it.”
“That is why we went ahead and appointed our first interim mental health champion: to make sure that we recognised mental health and the challenges that it presents to the people of Northern Ireland and got it the recognition that it needs in our health service, this place and the Executive, so that mental health services could get the support — practical, financial and political — that they need to address many of the challenges that they have long faced across Northern Ireland.”
“I thank the Member. I again acknowledge that one of the first initiatives that the Executive took was to establish the Executive working group on mental well-being, resilience and suicide prevention. That set the tone and tenor for what we were going to do about mental health and for how the Department was able to move forward. I have said before that, no matter how bad the first pandemic was, we still moved ahead and launched the mental health strategy. It was something that we had committed to doing, that we were going to do and that needed to be done.”
“That is why we have set up the hub-and-spoke model for orthopaedics in Lagan Valley Hospital. It is about how we provide a holistic health service to all the people of Northern Ireland using a regional footprint. That will bring challenges, and the biggest challenge that it brings to us as politicians is to accept that things will have to be done differently.”
“In the past year, I have seen a willingness from our health service staff to go somewhere else to deliver a service. Belfast surgeons have been operating in the SWAH. Two years ago, people would have said that that would never happen. People have travelled from one side of Northern Ireland to another to get a procedure, because they know that that is where they will get it. Our health service has moved outside the challenge of being local. Many of our patients have moved outside the challenge of being treated locally. The next challenge for us as politicians is to allow our health service to take a regional approach and allow patients to get the service that they need delivered where it is going to be. I am now looking at that regional approach, and I have used the phrase many times.”
“This is a challenge. I say this to the people of Northern Ireland: you have a highly dedicated and highly professional health service, with people working in it who want to get back to their day job and see you as quickly and efficiently as possible. That will mean changes and will mean challenges for many of us as politicians.”
“I will try to get to you as quickly as possible, Jonny. <BR /> <BR />It is part of the solution. I put on record my thanks to all the people who are working across the system and delivering it. The Member thanks me, but there is nobody who deserves more thanks and praise than Patricia Donnelly, who has brought the entire process together. <BR /> <BR />With regard to the people who are on the waiting lists, that is what today's statement is about. That is why I am not sugar-coating it. I am not saying that everything is perfect or that, in another couple of months, we will be back to acceptable levels, because it would be disingenuous and dishonest of me to do that.”
“Those releases that the vaccinators and those who are vaccinated are getting are immeasurable. <BR /> <BR />I am glad that the Member has got his vaccine, and I am glad that he will get his second one as well. I encourage everyone in the House who is in an eligible age group to go forward —”