13 January 2026
SDLP Opposition Health Spokesperson Colin McGrath MLA has said people in the North cannot wait five years for the health service to be fixed.
He was speaking after Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said it could take up to five years to address problems around hospital capacity.
Mr McGrath raised ambulance response times in the Assembly after a pensioner in Downpatrick was left waiting for hours in cold weather.
South Down MLA Colin McGrath said:
“The scale of the crisis in our health service is almost impossible to put into words. Today in the Assembly I raised the unacceptable waits some patients are facing for an ambulance. These are people in medical emergencies, and families in distress, waiting hours for help to arrive. That reality was brought into sharp focus by the case of a 75-year-old man in Downpatrick who was left lying on a cold street for almost five hours waiting for an ambulance.
“The Health Minister responded by saying it could take at least five years to get our health service back on track. People simply cannot be expected to accept that. While no one believes these problems can be solved overnight, there are practical interventions that could make an immediate difference and which are not being pursued by the Minister or the Executive.
“Last year the SDLP Opposition published detailed proposals to improve ambulance response times and met directly with the Minister to discuss them. Those proposals were ignored. That lack of urgency is exactly how we have reached a point where the public is now being told to wait years for basic care.
“Given the performance of this Executive and the warnings that have gone unheeded it’s hard to have much confidence that we won’t be in the same position in five years’ time. The Minister and Executive need to get serious about saving our health service and implement the reform that’s been promised for a decade.”