NI health system ‘out of kilter’ and needs better community care – Nesbitt

Northern Ireland’s health system has not got the balance right between community and hospital care, Mike Nesbitt has said.

The health minister and former UUP leader was speaking before the health committee where he was asked about a range of issues including nurses’ pay, the Kent meningitis outbreak, a public inquiry into cervical cancer screening, and drinking water at a maternity hospital.

Mr Nesbitt also said he would not be a “lap dog” to party needs as he pledged to make decisions in patients’ interest.

He appeared before committee on Thursday alongside the Department of Health’s Tracey McCaig, Jim Wilkinson, and Chris Matthews.

He was asked about his role as both UUP leader and health minister, and to reassure the committee that his decisions would be made “purely on your role as health minister and patient outcomes” rather than influenced by politics.

Mr Nesbitt said: “I am unencumbered by the search for votes, personally, because I will not be standing on May 6 2027.

“I give you an assurance that if I feel that the party is trying to influence how I do my role, I would rather walk, resign, step away than become some sort of lap dog or functionary for a political party.”

He said he wanted to prioritise pay and introduce a real living wage “as soon as possible” across Health and Social Care and that the problem with patient flows through secondary hospitals was linked to a lack of community capacity.

Mr Nesbitt said that there needed to be a “shift” towards prevention and early intervention, and that if it does not happen “this calendar year, it may be too late”.

“Because there are forces at work that could take us in directions, and if it develops certain momentum it’s not reversible, to my mind”, he told MLAs.

“So I am determined we make a very significant step towards shifting left before the end of this mandate, and to do that, we have to have a very good relationship with GPs, with community pharmacists, with the dental service, but also with the independent care providers.”

He said a good healthcare system needed to aim to cure the sick and keep healthy people healthy.

“It seems to me, we’ve come out of kilter, and we’re all about curing people who become sick and become sick, maybe three, four, five years ago, to the point where when we do intervene, it has to be an acute and becomes very expensive.

“So it’s not only bad for the patient, whose had three or four or five years of ill health, but it’s really bad for the budget.

“So let’s shift into prevention and early intervention.”

He said he had not yet received a report from Professor Sir Frank Atherton, the former chief medical officer in Wales, in relation to the cervical screening programme.

He said as part of his terms of reference, he has been asked to recommend whether a public inquiry should be held or not.

“So on that basis, I am not in a position to call a public inquiry at this committee meeting today.”

Mr Matthews was also asked about the new maternity hospital in Belfast and whether the water was drinkable.

He said that while the water was recently found to be safe to drink, after bacteria was found in the building’s water system last June, because it is “a building site” signs have been put up advising people to not drink the water.

“Because it is a building site, it’s general practice to say that it’s probably not a good idea to drink the water, because other things may have happened since the last set of testing.

“Construction work is going on and so on, so the signs are there as a general precaution.

“The most recent testing had shown that the water was safe.

“However, it is a building site, and that position could change as work is ongoing.”