Nesbitt says PFG waiting list funding commitment a ‘welcome’ surprise

Stormont’s health minister has expressed surprise that the programme for government includes a pledge of £215 million a year to tackle waiting lists in Northern Ireland.

Mike Nesbitt said such investment would represent a “dramatic and indeed very welcome turn of direction by the Executive” as he noted that previous bids he made for ring-fenced funding to address waiting lists had been rejected.

In January, Mr Nesbitt told the Assembly that the Executive’s draft budget for 2025/26 provided “no additional funding for waiting list reduction initiatives”.

However, the PFG published on Monday includes a pledge to spend £80 million a year to prevent waiting lists getting any longer – and £135 million a year to reduce them.

Mr Nesbitt told reporters at Stormont he only became aware of the commitment when he received a final version of the PFG last week. He said work on developing the plans were not shared widely among all four parties in the Executive prior to that point.

The Ulster Unionist health minister said he would now be writing to First Minister Michelle O’Neill, deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly and finance minister John O’Dowd to ask for a “guarantee” on the funding.

“I just want certainty about the fact that this money is coming,” he said.

Mr Nesbitt added: “On the face of it, it is a dramatic and indeed very welcome turn of direction by the Executive because we have asked for money for waiting lists before and have had those bids rejected.

“To be clear, £80 million a year is what is required to stop the waiting lists getting any bigger, and £135 million a year is what is required for five years in a row to reduce those waiting lists, so that everybody’s being seen in a timely manner.

“So I will be, for the avoidance of doubt, writing to the First Minister, deputy First Minister, and the finance minister just to clarify that is what they are proposing to do and to clarify also the timelines for that spend, because if that money is coming – the £135 million and the £80 million – I need to start planning immediately about getting that money out and getting people seen in a more timely manner.”

He added: “I didn’t know this was coming. And other ministers have made the point that in terms of a four party coalition government, that it wasn’t an equal distribution of knowledge, shall we say, in the build up to the publication of the final programme for government.

“But, look, all I can say is, if that money is coming, it is going to be incredibly welcomed by those who have been waiting on really very, very long and unacceptable waiting lists for pain relief and for treatment.”