Minister to attend final Human Rights Inquiry Hearing

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission will today, 1 December, hold the last of its Human Rights Inquiry hearings. The Minister for Health Social Services and Public Safety Jim Wells MLA will provide evidence to the panel. The Inquiry has been examining experiences of emergency departments throughout Northern Ireland.

NIHRC Chief Commissioner Les Allamby said:

“This final Inquiry hearing will provide the Minister an opportunity to comment on the evidence provided to the Panel to date and we are pleased that he is doing this. We are also grateful to all of those who have contributed to the Inquiry so far. We have heard from people who use and work in our emergency care system, the patients and healthcare staff who have experienced first-hand the positives and non-positives of the system. This information will shape our report and recommendations to the Northern Ireland Executive next year.”

The Northern Ireland Ombudsman, representatives from the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Chief Executive of the Health and Social Care Board will also provide evidence to the panel at the last hearing.

The Commission will publish its final report and recommendations to the Northern Ireland Executive in April 2015.

ENDS

Further information:

For further information please contact Claire Martin on: claire.martin@nihrc.org or 0771 7731873 (mobile).

Notes to editors

1. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is an independent statutory body first proposed in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (1998) and established in 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act (1998). It is answerable to Parliament at Westminster.

2. The Commission will publish its final report and recommendations to the Northern Ireland Executive in April 2015.

3. You can watch all the public hearings to date on our website: http://www.nihrc.org/inquiry/public-hearings

4. The hearings involve taking evidence followed by questions from the panel. Contributions are not sought from the audience.

5. The Final Inquiry Public Hearing will take place on Monday 1st December at the Stormont Hotel, Belfast, from approximately 2pm to 6.45pm. Members of the public and press are welcome to attend.