Ulster Unionist Party Leader and Minister of Health Mike Nesbitt MLA has welcomed the agreement of the Programme for Government but has highlighted again the lack of alignment between the plan, recent Executive prioritisations and even next year’s proposed budget allocations.

Mike Nesbitt said:

“Whilst it took much longer than it ought to have, and the process was often inexplicably and avoidably cumbersome, I do acknowledge that given it has been a decade since Northern Ireland last had a Programme for Government the publication of the plan does represent progress.

“More than a quarter of a century on from the signing of the Belfast Agreement the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive needs to do much more than simply exist. It needs to agree and deliver upon its priorities and be able to demonstrate how it intends to provide better outcomes for its people. Importantly, it also needs to be able to demonstrate how success is to be measured.

“With more than a year of only a three-year term already behind it, the Executive must now approach a number of the most significant and consequential challenges in public services with a renewed and much greater sense of urgency.

“As Minister of Health I do genuinely welcome the fact that cutting waiting times has been identified as one of the priorities which the Executive will work to throughout the remainder of the mandate. With it being one of nine deserving but ultimately competing priorities, however, I will never shy away from making the point that there is no single service in Northern Ireland under greater strain and with such real-life consequences on the well-being of our population as our health and social care system.

“Whilst I do not question for one moment the financial limitations surrounding this Programme for Government, it makes it even more important that we best target available funding towards our main priorities. 

"It is a simple point of fact that the premium per capita for health in Northern Ireland has fallen from 9% in 2023/24 to just an estimated 1.5% based on the draft budget for next year – that is despite the findings from the NI fiscal council which estimates a 7% premium is required and the Northern Ireland block grant as a whole has a premium well in excess of that.

"Regrettably, repeated opportunities over the last twelve months to have genuinely prioritised the health service in Northern Ireland have been missed and the final PfG document itself is clear when it states that it will not be possible to reduce our lengthy waiting times within the funding currently available to my Department.

“As such, I hope that, over the remaining two years of this Executive, we will be able to not only deliver better, transformed and more productive health services, but that our patients and health workers will receive a funding settlement much closer aligned to what independent analysis clearly states is required.”