17 August 2026

SDLP Opposition Health Spokesperson Colin McGrath MLA has welcomed plans from HSC Chief Executives to accelerate the reduction of agency staffing across the health service, while warning that the Health Minister must ensure the progress made is sustained.

Mr McGrath said years of workforce shortages and inadequate planning had driven trusts towards costly agency cover to keep services running, and called on the Executive to ensure trusts have the permanent staff they need for the future.

Colin McGrath MLA said:

"Reducing reliance on agency staff is a welcome move. Agency workers have stepped in and helped hold our health service together during periods of enormous pressure, but nobody can seriously argue that spending huge sums year after year to fill gaps in the workforce is a sustainable way to run the health service.

"The real test for the Health Minister is whether this becomes a lasting change. It would be a serious failure if agency spending falls now, only for trusts to find themselves back in the same position in a few years' time because the underlying workforce pressures were allowed to build up again.

"The Minister and the Executive know where the shortages are, and the pressures facing our frontline services. There can be no excuse for failing to plan ahead, recruit and retain the permanent staff required, and give trusts the workforce they need.

"This must be the point where the cycle of short-termism, crisis management and expensive agency cover is finally broken. The public has paid a heavy price for years of getting this wrong and the Executive now has a responsibility to make sure those mistakes are not repeated."