AQO 3059/22-27 Oral question to the Minister of Health
To ask the Minister of Health to outline any specific health economic modelling his Department is using to assess whether financial decisions are delivering long-term value and better outcomes in the health system, as opposed to balancing budgets and deferring costs into future years.
Asked by John Blair MLA on 29 January 2026
- Answered
- Oral
- Answered in the Chamber
- Tabled
- 29 January 2026
- Answer due by
- 9 February 2026
- Answered
- 9 February 202611 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Answered in the Assembly Chamber on 9 February 2026. Extract from the Official Report (Hansard), including any supplementary questions:
Mr Nesbitt
I, too, welcome our visitors. My Department employs a broad range of recognised health economic modelling tools to inform and support financial decision-making across the system. The tools enable us to assess different scenarios in a structured and evidence-based way that ensures that decisions are grounded in an understanding of both immediate pressures and longer-term implications. That said, in the financial year 2025-26, the Department has faced a particularly significant funding gap, which has necessitated a concerted drive to identify and deliver substantial cash-releasing savings. To support responsible choices, all major proposals are developed through business cases that are underpinned by robust economic appraisal. The appraisals consider cost, benefits, risks and potential system impacts, and help us prioritise options that maximise value for money. In a highly challenging financial context, that disciplined approach is essential to avoid simply deferring costs to future years; to maintain our commitment to improving outcomes; and to ensuring that we have a sustainable health and social care system.
Mr Blair
I thank the Minister for that answer. I will stay with priorities. The permanent secretary seemed to confirm to the Health Committee that the Department of Health's priorities have been outlined for the first time in 11 years. Can the Minister explain why he, or his predecessor and party colleague, did not do that sooner?
Mr Nesbitt
I do not speak for any previous Health Minister. I have been in my post for about 20 months. It is such a broad portfolio that it took me a number of months to get my head around where we were. One of the conclusions was that we have to be a lot clearer, not just internally but externally, about saying, "Here is what we are going to do. Here is what we cannot afford to do within the budget. Here is what it is not reasonable to expect us to continue to do, because it neither represents value for money nor delivers the better outcomes that we want to see for patients, service users and the health and social care workforce".