// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Robbie Butler announced as new health minister
Robbie Butler is a former UUP deputy leader and has twice considered running for leadership, only to withdraw at the last moment
Lagan Valley Ulster Unionist assembly member (MLA) Robbie Butler has been announced as the new health minister.
His appointment comes after Mike Nesbitt resigned as health minister after his party leader Jon Burrows told a town hall meeting that he did not support emergency general surgery (EGS) being removed from Causeway Hospital.
Butler is a former UUP deputy leader and has twice considered running for leadership, only to withdraw at the last moment.
He said he wanted Northern Ireland to "have a world-class health service that people can access more quickly".
"I take on this role with no illusions about the scale of the challenge," he said.
Butler added that problems in the health service "will not be solved overnight" but he would also not "accept that they are inevitable".
"I intend to spend as much time as possible seeing health and social care at the front line, not from behind a desk.
"That was an important part of Mike Nesbitt's approach too, and I intend to build on the momentum he created while bringing my own ideas, energy and priorities to the role," Butler said.
Burrows said that Butler had his "full confidence and the full backing of our assembly team".