Motion

Failure to Deliver Health and Social Care Transformation

Motion TitleFailure to Deliver Health and Social Care Transformation

Motion TextThat this Assembly condemns the failure to deliver on the promise of health and social care transformation ten years after the publication of the Systems, Not Structures: Changing Health and Social Care report in 2016; agrees that patients are experiencing severe harm due to successive Ministers of Health delaying progress, and avoiding decision-making, on health reform proposals; notes with grave concern the conclusion of the British Medical Association that, due to the failure to deliver the recommendations of clinical experts, Northern Ireland is experiencing reform by service collapse; calls on the Minister of Health to change his approach and demonstrate the political leadership required to foster public confidence in the health reform agenda; and further calls on the Minister to outline his plan to make progress on health and social care transformation and improve patient outcomes before the end of the 2022-2027 Assembly mandate.

Motion CategoryPrivate Members' Motion

Date Tabled to Business Office22/09/2026

Date Selected By Committee22/09/2026

Date of Plenary Debate06/10/2026

View Official Report

Tabled By

Member Name	Tabled As
Miss Nuala McAllister	MLA - North Belfast
Mr Danny Donnelly	MLA - East Antrim

Bills

Outcome/Voting

The Motion, As Amended, Was Carried by Oral Vote

Amendments

Selected Amendments

Number	Tabled Date	Amendment Text
1	01/10/2026	Leave out all after ‘service collapse;’ and insert: ‘commits to working constructively to agree and deliver a shared programme of health reform over the next five years; and calls on the Minister of Health to work with all political parties to establish a new consensus on health and social care transformation, capable of sustaining difficult decisions and delivering reform beyond any single Minister or electoral cycle.'

Other Amendments Tabled

Tabled Date	Amendment Text
02/10/2026	Leave out all after ‘That this Assembly;’ and insert: ‘recognises that health and social care transformation has not progressed at the pace and consistency required, but rejects politically motivated and inaccurate allegations that reform has been absent or that responsibility for its progress rests solely with successive Ministers of Health; acknowledges that prolonged political instability and the repeated collapse of devolved institutions from the publication of the Systems, Not Structures: Changing Health and Social Care report in October 2016 have repeatedly disrupted the continuity and cross-government leadership needed to deliver reform; notes that the Department of Health published a Reset and Recovery Plan to reform health and social care, establish financial stability and improve health outcomes; affirms that reform must be clinically led, evidence-based and developed through meaningful engagement with staff, patients and communities; urges all parties to protect the stability of the institutions and support delivery of the plan; and calls on the Minister of Health to provide an update on his plan to make progress on health and social care transformation and improve patient outcomes before the end of the 2022-2027 Assembly mandate.’

Tabled Date

Amendment Text

02/10/2026

Leave out all after ‘That this Assembly;’ and insert: ‘recognises that health and social care transformation has not progressed at the pace and consistency required, but rejects politically motivated and inaccurate allegations that reform has been absent or that responsibility for its progress rests solely with successive Ministers of Health; acknowledges that prolonged political instability and the repeated collapse of devolved institutions from the publication of the Systems, Not Structures: Changing Health and Social Care report in October 2016 have repeatedly disrupted the continuity and cross-government leadership needed to deliver reform; notes that the Department of Health published a Reset and Recovery Plan to reform health and social care, establish financial stability and improve health outcomes; affirms that reform must be clinically led, evidence-based and developed through meaningful engagement with staff, patients and communities; urges all parties to protect the stability of the institutions and support delivery of the plan; and calls on the Minister of Health to provide an update on his plan to make progress on health and social care transformation and improve patient outcomes before the end of the 2022-2027 Assembly mandate.’

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Failure to Deliver Health and Social Care Transformation

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