DUP leader regrets claim

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said he regrets making a claim that the Northern Ireland Protocol had delayed some heart surgeries.

Earlier this month, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said 20 patients were transferred to the care of the Belfast Trust in August after it could not secure needed cardiac replacement kit in the UK or Ireland due to its size.

Speaking at the time, the DUP leader said healthcare “isn’t helped when access to medicines is impaired and inhibited” by the protocol.

He added: “How does that help people waiting on surgery, on lifesaving treatment, that the protocol is preventing the health service from getting what it needs to provide that treatment? That’s why we need a solution on this.”

But speaking to the media yesterday, Sir Jeffrey said he now accepted the information about surgeries in Northern Ireland was “not entirely accurate”.