Northern Ireland Minister Fleur Anderson has talked up the possibility of All-Ireland cooperation to tackle health waiting lists in Northern Ireland.
Appearing before the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, the Minister was giving evidence on funding and delivery of services in Northern Ireland when Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood raised the issue of cross-border cooperation.
Addressing MPs, minister Anderson said that any decisions should be about "improving outcomes for people".
"I think we need to look at every way in which we can improve outcomes for people. If anyone's on that long waiting list, however we can solve it, I think that's what we should be working as politicians to achieve," she said.
"So there are those examples of all Ireland health strategies should actually absolutely be built on. We recently had the British and Irish Intergovernmental Conference when the Secretary of State and I met in Dublin, and we talked about public service transformation in that conference deliberately to bring this to the forefront.I think, yeah, wherever we can have that is absolutely beneficial to all."
The Minister made reference to a visit to Fermanagh where she discussed the issue of healthcare and said that solutions need to be found which take account of the geography of Northern Ireland.
"I was in Fermanagh talking about this as well for them geographically to look at health, where healthcare provision should be, when it should be a specialised subject service further away, when it should be those provisions that are needed nearer.Rather than having to drive long distances, they should all be on the table," she said.
"Everything that we can improve the outcomes should be on the table, and I think all Ireland strategies are important.The one that's been raised most with me is an all-Ireland cancer strategy, so that's what I've been raising as well."
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our politics newsletter here.
English (United States) ·