Jon Burrows expects to name new Health Minister soon after Nesbitt resignation

Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows

Wednesday 19 August 2026

Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows has said this morning he expects to nominate a new Northern Ireland Health Minister soon, as he moved to reassure patients that Mike Nesbitt’s sudden resignation will not interrupt work to reduce waiting lists and reform services.

Mr Burrows said he would discuss the health portfolio with party colleagues over the coming days, but did not identify who is being considered for one of Stormont’s most demanding ministerial roles.

His statement follows Mr Nesbitt’s resignation on Tuesday evening after a significant disagreement with the UUP leader over emergency general surgery at Causeway Hospital.

Successor to be considered over coming days

Mr Burrows thanked the outgoing minister for approaching the health portfolio with “seriousness, integrity and a determination to improve our health service”.

He said:

“I want to thank Mike Nesbitt for his service as Minister of Health. He took on arguably the hardest job in government and approached it with seriousness, integrity and a determination to improve our health service.

“The direction he set on reform, on tackling health inequalities and on driving down waiting lists was the right one, and that work will continue.”

Addressing the immediate question of Mr Nesbitt’s replacement, the North Antrim MLA added:

“I will be discussing the health brief with party colleagues over the coming days and expect to confirm a nomination soon. Whoever takes on the role will have the full backing of the Ulster Unionist Party and our Assembly team.”

The UUP holds the health portfolio within the Northern Ireland Executive and will be responsible for nominating a successor.

Burrows promises continuity for patients

Mr Burrows said the immediate priority for the next minister would be reducing waiting lists and improving access to healthcare across Northern Ireland.

That includes GP appointments, waiting times in emergency departments, diagnostic services, treatment and surgery.

“Important work is already under way and a change of Minister will not interrupt it,” he said.

The reassurance comes as Northern Ireland’s health service continues to face severe pressures, including lengthy hospital waiting lists, difficulties accessing primary care and sustained demand across emergency departments.

Antrim Area Hospital and Causeway Hospital are among the facilities dealing with those pressures within the Northern Health and Social Care Trust.

Reform needed—but process must change

Mr Burrows made clear that Mr Nesbitt’s resignation would not cause the UUP to abandon health service reform.

However, his statement also set out a different approach to how major changes should be developed and communicated.

“There is also no escaping the need for meaningful reform. The Ulster Unionist Party has never shied away from that. But how we deliver reform is every bit as important as what we ultimately decide.”

Mr Burrows said safe and sustainable services must remain the overriding priority but argued that reform must also address health inequalities and differences in access between regions.

He said decisions must consider workforce pressures, recruitment and retention, ambulance and travel times, patient outcomes and the risk of losing important clinical skills and capacity.

“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.

Causeway controversy exposed loss of confidence

The dispute that led to Mr Nesbitt’s departure centred on proposals affecting emergency general surgery at Causeway Hospital.

The Northern Trust has proposed centralising emergency general surgery at Antrim Area Hospital while concentrating most planned general surgery at Causeway.

Under that model, Causeway would retain its Emergency Department and continue assessing patients with urgent surgical needs, but those requiring admission for emergency surgery would be transferred to Antrim.

The proposals have faced sustained opposition from communities across the north coast, with concerns raised about travel and ambulance times, pressure on Antrim Area Hospital and the wider future of services at Causeway.

Mr Burrows recently gave his support to retaining emergency general surgery at Causeway during a packed public meeting in Coleraine.

Mr Nesbitt later accused the UUP leader of introducing a new political “red line” and creating “shock waves” across the health and social care system.

Addressing the controversy, Mr Burrows said clinical evidence must remain central to decisions but acknowledged that he did not believe the correct balance had been achieved between evidence, engagement and community confidence.

“Clinical evidence must be central to decision making, but reform cannot simply be done to communities.

“There must be genuine engagement with the clinicians and staff delivering services and with the people who depend on them. 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.”

Call for Northern Ireland-wide conversation

Mr Burrows called for a wider public discussion about the future shape of Northern Ireland’s health service.

He said the evidence, risks, costs, benefits and alternatives behind proposed changes should be made transparent so people could have confidence that their concerns had been properly considered.

“I want to see a Northern Ireland-wide conversation about the future of our health service, in which the evidence, risks, costs, benefits and alternatives are transparent, and people can have confidence their concerns have genuinely been heard.”

He said the next minister would remain committed to transforming the health service but would also be expected to secure the greatest possible public and professional confidence in that work.

Mr Burrows concluded:

“The Ulster Unionist Party took the health brief because we believed it mattered more than it was convenient. That has not changed.

“We have a duty of care to everyone in Northern Ireland, and we remain determined to build a health service that is safer, faster and fairer.”

The immediate decision now facing Mr Burrows is who can take responsibility for the health service while also managing the political and public tensions surrounding major reforms. His choice of minister—and the position that person adopts on Causeway Hospital—will provide the first clear indication of how the UUP intends to balance clinical recommendations with community confidence.