Northern Ireland Protocol - DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson regrets saying trade deal delayed heart surgeries

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

Sir Jeffrey said he accepted the information about surgeries in Northern Ireland was "not entirely accurate".

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 life-saving treatment, that the protocol is preventing the health service from getting what it needs to provide that treatment?”

The trust said at the the time that issues securing equipment was not linked to the protocol.

Speaking yesterday, Sir Jeffrey said that his information had been from "reliable medical sources" but later turned out to be "not entirely accurate".

He added that it was "placed in the public domain by me and I regret that this happened".

He continued: "I accept the trust's explanation that on this occasion it was the size of the equipment was the issue and they were able to source it from the supplier in Germany - and that the protocol on this occasion was not the problem."

Sir Jeffrey previously made similar remarks about delays to heart surgeries in Belfast due to the protocol - and the Belfast health trust responded to say there was no substance to his claims.

However the PAGB, the UK trade association which represents manufacturers of over-the-counter medicines, told the House of Lords recently that the emerging divergence in NI-GB regulation will seriously hit the importation of medical devices from July 2024.

From that date any importer must have access to the certificates of conformity for all EU-approved 'CE marked' products they stock, which it said will act "as a barrier to flexibility in supply".

Commenting, Sir Jeffrey that “there is no doubt that major problems lie ahead for both access to medical devices and medicines as a result of the protocol and increasing divergence from UK standards”.