Mike Nesbitt resigns as health minister amid row with UUP leader

Mike Nesbitt has resigned as health minister amid a row with the UUP leader Jon Burrows.

The decision comes following a clash over withdrawing emergency general surgery services from Causeway Hospital.

Nesbitt served twice as leader of the party, first from 2012 until 2017 and again from 2024 until earlier this year when Burrows took over.

Burrows thanked him for his service, saying he “took on arguably the hardest job in government”.

The UUP leader said he plans to discuss the health brief with party colleagues and will confirm a nomination soon.

Nesbitt said his time as health minster was “the greatest privilege of his political career”.

Another ex-leader Doug Beattie quit the UUP in May, lashing out at Burrows’ leadership.

It is unclear whether Nesbitt will follow suit and quit the party as well as resigning his ministry.

Last week Burrows, who is a North Antrim MLA, told a town hall meeting that he did not support emergency general surgery (EGS) being removed from Causeway Hospital.

The Northern Health Trust previously recommended that EGS should only be provided at one of its hospital sites.

It is understood the Department of Health (DoH) was still waiting for a final recommendation to come to the minister.

Nesbitt was unable to attend last week’s meeting due to a constituency election meeting in Strangford and Burrows attended in his place, where he voiced opposition to the closure of the EGS service.

Last week he said he did not agree with that and would “never agree with it”.

“Emergency surgery must remain at the Causeway Hospital and it should be built up, not run down and that is my position and it’s not for negotiation.”

However, he stopped short of saying whether or not he would direct Nesbitt not to sign off on the move.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, after the resignation, Burrows acknowledged the need for reform but said “how we deliver reform is every bit as important as what we ultimately decide”.

He said “safe, sustainable services,” are the priority and 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”.

He said “reform cannot simply be done to communities”.

“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”.

In his resignation letter, Nesbitt said that when Burrows became party leader, he told him his “one ‘red line'” was puberty blockers and his “opposition to Northern Ireland participating in the Pathways trial”.

In a copy of the letter he sent to Burrows, posted on social media, external, Nesbitt said the party leader had now “introduced a second red line” regarding the EGS at Causeway Hospital.

Nesbitt said he had discovered Burrows’ view of “issues under [his] purview” by “monitoring the media”.

“Yesterday, I offered you a way to manage this situation. As I have not received a timely response and given the shock waves you have created in the HSC system, this matter needs resolved,” he said.

In his statement on Wednesday, Burrows described Nesbitt as approaching his ministerial position “with seriousness, integrity and a determination” and said the direction he set on tackling issues would continue.

In a statement on Tuesday, a UUP spokesperson thanked Nesbitt “sincerely for his service and for the leadership he has given to our health and social care workforce”.

“Mike took on one of the most difficult briefs in government with a genuine determination to make health and social care better for everyone in Northern Ireland.

“From beginning the shift towards a neighbourhood model of care, to putting health inequalities at the centre of policy, he leaves a significant legacy, not least the progress made on some of Northern Ireland’s longest waiting lists.”

It is unclear who will take over as health minister but Nesbitt’s decision to quit leaves the party seven days to nominate a replacement.

A Northern Trust spokesperson said the current model of providing emergency general surgery across two acute sites is becoming “increasingly unsustainable” and surgical colleagues are finding it challenging to provide 24/7 emergency rota cover at both hospitals.

The trust said that in absence of a Ministerial decision, “we will continue to do all we can…to ensure our general surgery service remains as safe and stable as possible, with patient safety our utmost priority. Our preference remains for a planned and managed change that will ensure we can avoid a potential service collapse”.

Campaigners have said withdrawing emergency general surgery (EGS) from Causeway Hospital would create a domino effect leading to other services being withdrawn.

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant thanked Nesbitt “for the enormous contribution” he made during his time as health minster “in confronting the huge challenges facing the health service and driving forward reform”.

He said it was “vital for patients across Northern Ireland that this work continues without interruption”.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she was “genuinely sorry” to see Nesbitt resign.

“I believe his presence in the executive will be missed,” she posted on social media. , external

“He played a constructive and mature part in the executive and was making welcome progress in reducing waiting lists.”

The chair of Stormont’s health committee, Sinn Féin MLA Phillip McGuigan, said he was convening an urgent meeting of the committee, adding that “patients and staff need leadership, stability and clarity”.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly thanked Nesbitt “for the positive engagement on a range of issues, particularly on health waiting lists”.

She said “work must continue” and that she would “push for accelerated delivery”.

“Too many people were and are waiting much too long – for operations, for investigations and tests, for the much-needed medical interventions. Access to GPs continues to be a huge and frustrating issue for people all over Northern Ireland,” she said in a social media post., external

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said there was a test for Burrows. , external

“Will he appoint a Health Minister who will deliver the commitment he made to the people of Causeway, or will he walk away from the Executive and surrender responsibility for Health altogether?”

Speaking on Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show, the DUP’s Paul Frew said that if this were to happen, the D’Hondt system would be triggered, and he believed the DUP would be the next party in line for that ministry.

Stormont’s leader of the opposition, Matthew O’Toole, said the resignation underlined the need for a more serious and responsible approach to government in Northern Ireland.

He said the news would “come as an insult to healthcare workers and patients who had been promised a serious approach to reforming our broken system”.

“Once again, our public services are undermined by irresponsibility, short-termism and political game-playing.”

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said her immediate concern was “for those who work in the health service and the patients reliant on its effectiveness”.

“Credit to Mike Nesbitt with whom I have worked well,” she added.

The party’s health spokesperson, Nuala McAllister, accused Burrows of putting “the cart before the horse” when he said he would never support the removal of services from the hospital because Stormont politicians are still waiting for the final evidence from experts.

“I think it would have been untenable for Mike to remain in his position…when his party leader has come out against decisions,” she added.

Independent MLA for the area where the Causeway Hospital is situated, Claire Sugden, described Nesbitt’s resignation as “regrettable” and told North West Today “we are at a point in the mandate where any new successor in the health portfolio is really there in a caretaking role.”

Aontú deputy leader Gemma Brolly, who is chair of the SoS Causeway Hospital campaign group, said the new health minister must prioritise and defend services at the site.

She said her priority was “to halt the pattern of stripping essential services” from the hospital.