// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Health minister apologises to patients over neurology failings
Health Minister Robbie Butler has apologised for the failings
Health Minister Robbie Butler has apologised for failings in the care of patients of former Belfast neurologist Michael Watt.
The apology follows the publication of a final review into the care of patients who had died.
Butler said meeting the families and loved ones of some of Watt's deceased patients had been an "unrivalled privilege".
He said they were still living with the "pain and trauma" of what had happened.
The minister said the review was "only the start of another process" to ensure the mistakes of the past were not repeated.
"It will have to deliver on the failures of the past and as minister I will make sure that that happens," he said.
Former doctor Michael Watt, who worked in the Belfast health trust until 2017, was struck off the medical register in 2023
The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) said its final review of all findings in relation to the consultant found harm was caused to some patients through delayed or misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.
Watt, who worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Belfast, was at the centre of Northern Ireland's biggest-ever patient recall in 2018.