"The health minister has defended his department's timeline for initiating a plan to deal with winter pressures on the health service. Mike Nesbitt said a plan has been developed but has not yet been finalised and will be published on Thursday. It comes in response to comments made by Alliance MLA Nuala McAllister, over what she described as a "shocking" lack of information on how winter pressures will be managed."
"The Department of Health said the document was not its winter preparedness plan, but rather one of a number of documents which were never intended to be action specific, and which "formed part of the extensive discussion and practical work which has been taking place across the health and social care system". It added that it had already mobilised an extensive vaccination programme, to minimise the impact from winter infections such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Covid-19."
Health minister Mike Nesbitt defended the department's timeline for initiating a winter pressures plan and said a plan has been developed, not finalised, and will be published on Thursday. Alliance MLA Nuala McAllister said assembly members raised the issue since January and that nothing had yet been published, calling information provided to the health committee inadequate and lacking detail. A leaked Department of Health presentation outlines pressures on the health service and points to areas needing improvement. The department said the document was not the winter preparedness plan and noted mobilisation of an extensive vaccination programme for influenza, RSV and Covid-19.
Read at www.bbc.com
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