To ask the Minister of Health, given the urgency of transformation measures, to detail the rationale for the consultation period for the Hospitals - Creating a Better Network for Outcomes running from 1 October 2024 to 21 January 2025.

My Department is committed to having an honest dialogue and better communication with the public, one that creates opportunities for people who use our services to have a say in how they are planned and delivered. I believe that allowing the public this period of time to respond to such an important document as Hospitals – Creating a Network for Better Outcomes is appropriate, especially since this will run over the busy Christmas period.

Furthermore, I do not believe that this will be to the detriment of my reform agenda. Reform initiatives will continue to be progressed whilst the consultation is live. This includes, for example, my Live Better initiative to address health inequalities. Our Trusts will also continue advance hospital reconfiguration processes, if necessary, such as in the case of general surgery in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, which is currently out for public consultation.

I would encourage all those with an interest in the hospital network document to respond to the consultation, which is now live