6 May 2025

SDLP Opposition Health Spokesperson Colin McGrath MLA has welcomed a commitment from the Health Minister to provide clear results of his plan to tackle health waiting lists.

Minister Mike Nesbitt has confirmed he will publish a monthly report on the effectiveness of the plan.

South Down MLA Mr McGrath said:

“Any investment in our health service is to be welcomed. Our waiting lists are among the worst in Europe, with some people spending years waiting for much-needed treatment with terrible consequences for their physical and mental health. In that context this £50m must be welcomed, but it will take a considerably larger sum and full health service transformation to tackle the underlying causes for these long waiting lists.

“The only way we can judge the success or failure of this plan is through results. We cannot continue to rely on outside health providers over whom we have no control and this plan also wishes to repurpose existing staff at a time when many are already at the point of burn out and trusts are being asked to make further savings.

“While the return of cross-border healthcare is welcome and a long-standing ask of the SDLP, we are also concerned that people are being asked to pay upfront and then be reimbursed. Nobody’s access to healthcare should depend on how much money they have.

“To complicate matters, with the new encompass system now in place we cannot even access up to date figures of waiting times, waiting lists or even the number of beds in the system. In the Assembly today I asked the Minister to urgently address this and welcome his recognition of the existing issues. It’s not enough to make repeated commitments to addressing the waiting lists crisis – we need to see the results.”