Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Jon Burrows has selected Lagan Valley assembly member Robbie Butler as Northern Ireland's new health minister, according to reporting understood by this publication. The appointment fills the vacancy left after Mike Nesbitt resigned from the post following a public disagreement with Burrows over the future of emergency general surgery at Causeway Hospital.
Nesbitt had held the health portfolio since May 2024. In his resignation letter, he said he did not wish to be a minister who found out his party leader's position on major issues from media coverage rather than from direct communication, according to the Irish Times.
Why did Nesbitt resign?
The row centred on a proposal from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to strip emergency general surgery from Causeway Hospital and concentrate that service at Antrim Area Hospital, a plan first put forward in May 2025, according to a national broadcaster's report. Burrows told a town hall meeting that he opposed removing the service from Causeway Hospital, arguing instead that emergency surgery there should be strengthened rather than scaled back, a position reported by the Fermanagh Herald. The trust, for its part, maintained that running emergency general surgery across two sites had become increasingly difficult to sustain and pressed for a managed transition to a single site to prevent the service from failing outright, per the same broadcaster's report. Health service figures rallied behind Nesbitt after his departure, crediting him with offering firm political direction while following clinical guidance, the report added.
Burrows said on Monday that he was disappointed by Nesbitt's decision to step down and indicated he would settle on a replacement overnight. The Ulster Unionist Party reportedly had a seven-day window in which to nominate someone to take over the health portfolio, according to the Fermanagh Herald's coverage of the resignation.
Who is Robbie Butler?
Butler previously served as deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and has on two occasions weighed a bid for the party leadership itself, only to withdraw before formally entering the contest.
This appointment follows earlier confirmation that Burrows intended to name Nesbitt's successor, as outlined in previous coverage of the leadership decision and in an earlier report on Nesbitt's resignation, which noted that health bodies had urged whoever took the post to maintain continuity on reform efforts already under way.
What happens next?
Burrows had said the new health minister would be formally unveiled on Thursday, according to coverage from a regional broadcaster, meaning the process of confirming Butler's appointment was still working through party channels at the time of the resignation dispute. Any final decision on altering emergency general surgery arrangements at Causeway Hospital will still require sign-off from the sitting health minister before it can move forward, the national broadcaster's earlier report noted.
Key Facts
- Robbie Butler, Ulster Unionist MLA for Lagan Valley, is set to become Northern Ireland's health minister.
- Mike Nesbitt resigned after Jon Burrows opposed removing emergency general surgery from Causeway Hospital.
- Nesbitt had served as health minister since May 2024.
- The Northern Health and Social Care Trust wants emergency surgery concentrated at Antrim Area Hospital, a plan dating to May 2025.
- Burrows said a successor would be named on Thursday, with the Ulster Unionist Party reportedly working within a seven-day nomination window.
