Speaking after the resignation of Mike Nesbitt as Minister of Health.

Jon Burrows MLA said:

“I want to thank Mike Nesbitt for his service as Minister of Health. He took on arguably the hardest job in government and approached it with seriousness, integrity and a determination to improve our health service. The direction he set on reform, on tackling health inequalities and on driving down waiting lists was the right one, and that work will continue.

“I will be discussing the health brief with party colleagues over the coming days and expect to confirm a nomination soon. Whoever takes on the role will have the full backing of the Ulster Unionist Party and our Assembly team.

“The immediate priority remains putting patients first: reducing waiting lists and improving access to GPs, wait times in A&E, diagnostics, treatment and surgery right across Northern Ireland. Important work is already under way and a change of Minister will not interrupt it.

“There is also no escaping the need for meaningful reform. The Ulster Unionist Party has never shied away from that. But how we deliver reform is every bit as important as what we ultimately decide.

“Safe, sustainable services must be the overriding priority. Reform must also address health inequalities and regional imbalance, and recognise that people in different parts of Northern Ireland do not currently enjoy equal access to timely healthcare. That means looking at the whole picture: workforce pressures, recruitment and retention, the risk of losing vital clinical skills and capacity, ambulance and travel times, sustainability, patient outcomes, and the particular needs of different communities.

“Clinical evidence must be central to decision-making, but reform cannot simply be done to communities. There must be genuine engagement with the clinicians and staff delivering services and with the people who depend on them. I don't believe we have got that balance right, and the strength of feeling around Causeway shows what happens when communities feel decisions are arriving rather than being made with them.

“I want to see a Northern Ireland wide conversation about the future of our health service, in which the evidence, risks, costs, benefits and alternatives are transparent, and people can have confidence their concerns have genuinely been heard.

“The responsibilities carried by the Department of Health are immense. The next Minister will be committed to the transformation and reform of our health service, while ensuring it commands the greatest possible public and professional confidence.

“The Ulster Unionist Party took the health brief because we believed it mattered more than it was convenient. That has not changed. We have a duty of care to everyone in Northern Ireland, and we remain determined to build a health service that is safer, faster and fairer.”