To ask the Minister of Health (i) to detail the challenges of performing major elective surgeries when (a) an overnight stay is not possible; (b) there is no access to emergency theatre; and (c) there is no on-site surgical assessor; and (ii) how these challenges will impact where elective surgeries take place.

The hospital infrastructure in Northern Ireland operates as an integrated network in the delivery of elective care to the region.

The nature and complexity of the elective surgery required, and the patient’s clinical circumstances, will determine where a surgery takes place.

More complex or specialist elective surgery will be carried out in a hospital which has the necessary supporting clinical infrastructure.

Our two dedicated regional Day Procedure Centres at Lagan Valley and Omagh Hospitals perform planned day surgery and mainly focus on high volume, low complexity surgery across a range of specialities. Elective Overnight Stay Centres have also been established at Mater, Daisy Hill and South West Acute Hospitals for intermediate complexity elective surgery that sometimes, but not always, requires an overnight stay in hospital.

There is no doubt that we need to maximise the use of all the hospital infrastructure available to address the waiting lists. Work is ongoing to maximise the effectiveness and throughput of surgical theatres and diagnostic services by driving performance and efficiency.