To ask the Minister of Health to detail any actions underway by his Department to address the performance of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in relation to new breast cancer referral waiting times.

Poor 14-day breast performance across the region is impacted by ongoing consultant vacancies in surgery and radiology and demand capacity gaps. Recruitment challenges are due to local and UK shortages. Trusts are committed to filling medical and other vacancies wherever possible including using international recruitment drives and developing skill mix in line with available evidence. South Eastern HSC Trust has been particularly impacted by vacancies, sickness and maternity leave of consultant surgeons and radiologists.

My Department continues to work with all Trusts to reduce the current waiting time for breast cancer assessment. In 2024/25 non-recurrent funding has been allocated to Trusts to support additional waiting list initiative work, using both inhouse and independent sector capacity. However, given the demand and staffing gaps across the region, securing this capacity can be challenging and some Trusts have been more successful than others in sourcing additional capacity.

In response to the decline and regional disparities in the breast assessment waiting times my department established a regional waiting list for breast cancer assessment as part of a comprehensive Review of Breast Services. This initiative aims to enable women to access the earliest available appointment across all Trusts.

The regional waiting list for breast cancer assessment commenced on 8 May 2025. The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SEHSCT) is the host Trust for the new regional booking system.

This new system will ensure everyone who is referred for breast assessment across the regional experiences a similar wait. Most people will still be seen at their nearest hospital, but if there is an opportunity to be seen earlier, patients may be offered an appointment at any of the acute hospitals. Following assessment, patients are be referred back to their home Trust for treatment if required.

Work is also underway to address the backlog of patients waiting and to build capacity within breast services across Trusts.