A 'cocktail of delivery' to tackle NI waiting lists

There will be a "cocktail of delivery" to begin tackling Northern Ireland's hospital waiting lists with plans underway, the health minister has said.

Mike Nesbitt was speaking at a joint press conference with Finance Minister John O'Dowd, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and NI Secretary of State Hilary Benn.

There had been concerns the Programme for Government (PfG) did not confirm the required £215m would be made available to the Department of Health or if it would be recurrent for five years.

Nesbitt acknowledged the PfG said funding "up to that amount" would be available and on that basis would move forward from Wednesday evening with trusts on a plan to address waiting lists.

The Northern Ireland Secretary and Stormont ministers visited Eden Park Medical Practice in north Belfast on Wednesday, where they met with GPs and healthcare staff.

They all hailed funding to extend an initiative to promote early intervention in the health service.

The announcement of £61m for multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs), is a partnership between GP federations and health trusts to introduce new early intervention roles into general practice.

This means patients can see different specialists within the GP practice, reducing the need for referrals and appointments elsewhere.

The roll out of MDTs began with pilot projects in 2018.

Mr O'Dowd announced the funding earlier this week, as one of six projects to benefit from £129m to transform public services.

The money is part of the financial package which accompanied the return of devolved government last year.

Mr Nesbitt said the final sum for the health service "has still to be determined", while Mr O'Dowd pledged to work with Mike Nesbitt.

"To make sure the waiting lists do not expand any further we need £80 million a year, then to tackle that backlog we need £135 million on top of that £80 million and we need it for five years in a row," Nesbitt said.

"We need that so everybody is then being seen in a timely manner.

"The document, to be fair, says the commitment is up to £135 million, so I am going to sit down with John [O'Dowd] and we are going to discuss what is going to be possible and the time frame for it being delivered and we are going to start urgently," he said.

Nesbitt said he would be speaking with senior officials in the department to begin planning and give trusts the opportunity to begin reducing waiting lists.

"We are obviously going to have to use the independent sector to some degree, I'm also looking at restoring the cross-border reimbursement scheme which proved extremely popular, so there is going to be a cocktail of delivery in terms of tackling those waiting lists," he said.

"The final sum has to be determined, I think that's absolutely reasonable."

O'Dowd emphasised that all the ministers around the executive signed the Programme For Government.

"I am committed to working with each and every one of those executive ministers to deliver the commitments within that document," O'Dowd said.

"I will work with Mike and the others to deliver the funding required for the changes required in health and for tackling a very urgent issue, waiting lists."

Speaking on Nolan Live, the deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly said that the £135 million funds to reduce waiting list has been "signed up to by the Finance Minister, Health Minister and by the four parties".

"The challenge for the executive is to try and find those funds," she added.

She said that she has met the Nesbitt to discuss the £135 million proposal and that he helped write the proposal and the wording of up to £135 million to reduce waiting lists.

"We recognise that the proposal needs to be additional," she added.