In the wake of the health minister's unveiling of her 10-year plan for the future of Northern Ireland's healthcare system this morning, Alliance Party MLA Stephen Farry raises concerns over its funding.

He seeks assurances that the changes will not be dependent on monitoring round reallocations.

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The minister says the executive stands "ready to support" the health minister in her "new path" for healthcare.

"There will be an added requirement upon all of us to make sure we have the fiscal firepower to deliver the change we all want to see to improve our health service," he says.

Gerry Mullan of the SDLP says "the executive's secrecy is no way to do business in this house", and accuses it of "bypassing the committee scrutiny process".

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But Mr Ó Muilleoir disagrees, saying: "I have appeared at the Finance Comittee twice - happy to appear again."

The DUP's Emma Pengelly, who chairs the Finance Committee, asks about funding for public sector transformation.

The minister says there is now a "common-purpose executive" and that "ministers are resolved to bring forward proposals which will provide greater efficiencies and better services".

The minister's Sinn Féin colleague John O'Dowd asks how the minister has achieved two monitoring rounds with no cuts.

Once again, the minister puts this down to "a united executive".

Ulster Unionist Philip Smith asks the minister whether it would not have been "more open and transparent" to give an indication of the financial pressures facing departments.

The minister says "there are pressures on all fronts".

Mr Ó Muilleoir prefers to concentrate on the stimulus package.

"Today is the day our focus should be on delivery," he says.

Mr Ó Muilleoir outlines his plans for a £30m economic stimulus package, funded through borrowing powers made available under the Stormont House Agreement.

"I believe it is important that we send an early signal of our intent to citizens through the stimulus measures that I will now outline," he says.

The minister says the funding will include £15m capital DEL for roads and structural maintenance, £10m capital DEL for the purchase of new buses, and £5m for community regeneration fund.

He explains that the regeneration fund will be "aimed specifically at improving infrastructure in our most deprived and marginalised communities".

Matters move to the October monitoring round, where unspent funds from executive departments are reallocated, and Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is making a statement to the house.

He begins by explaining why a new approach to monitoring rounds means there is no need to announce the "wish-list of bids" made by departments. 

The minister says this is in line with practice in Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, and that it "demonstrates the efficiency of the new approach".

He says that once all of the adjustments have been taken into account the executive "had an overcommitment of £18.5m resource DEL (Departmental Expenditure Limits) and £11.9m capital DEL available to allocate".

The minister's 10-year vision for the healthcare system is a "recycling of a great plethora of fine words", according to TUV leader Jim Allister.

He asks: "How can the minister come to this house with grand proposals that she hasn't costed? Surely any proposal to be credible needs to be costed before it is embraced."

Mrs O'Neill says "it must be exhausting being so negative all of the time", and tells him: "Don't be too worried - you'll see it all in due course."

She assures him that she is working with her executive colleagues on the budget decisions... but Mr Allister rolls his eyes.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll asks the minister to commit that there will be no "further encroachment by the private sector into our NHS".

Mrs O'Neill says she is "going to work towards a position where we don't need to use the independent sector".

But until that is achieved, waiting lists are going to have be addressed by using the independent sector because "I can't let patients suffer whilst we get to a transformed health and social care system", she adds.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt asks whether the minister will commit to addressing "the imbalance of funding" between physical and mental health services.

"Parity of esteem does not mean giving the same amount of resource to physical health and mental health," Mrs O'Neill says.

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She says it means putting a greater focus on recovery, promotion of good mental health and investment in service development.

"For far too long mental health hasn't had the attention that it deserves," she adds."

There are "so many more opportunities" to develop health services on an all-Ireland basis, the health minister says.

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Existing links on children's cardiac services and radiotherapy for cancer patients "shows that we've been able to develop really innovative services for the population on the island", she adds.

Organ transplantation, dealing with rare diseases, and providing support for pregnant women with mental health issues are areas that she sees opportunities for more cross-border collaboration.

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath points out that the minister's statement makes suggestions that there may need to be changes or closures to emergency departments.

"Often it is the rural communities that are impacted by these changes the most," he says.

Mrs O'Neill says the "traditional model of going to hospital isn't 21st Century healthcare".

She adds: "People want to stay at home, so we should support people to stay at home as long as possible - only those that are acutely ill or for emergency reasons should be in our hospitals."

A "spectre of doubt" hangs over the health minister's 10-year plan, SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan says, and he asks when she will put more "meat on the bones".

Mrs O'Neill says she has set out her action plan for the next 12 months, and that will inform the following year and the years after that.

She says there will be "incremental change" and suggests that Mr Durkan "shouldn't allow any seed of doubt to be sown" among the general public on her commitment to carrying out the changes.

"This is different from anything that has come before," she adds.

Health Committee chair Paula Bradley asks what work has been done to put a cost on the proposals.

The minister says "we shouldn't start the conversation about money", but adds that the executive "for the first time ever, as a collective" has endorsed the vision and "recognises there is a cost".

Mrs O'Neill says her department is hopeful will obtain the necessary funding to implement change in the system.

A 10-year period for change is "too long" for healthcare staff to see a difference, the minister acknowledges.

But she says that "change starts today" with an initial list of priorities for the next 12 months, and she will provide the assembly with updates twice a year.

"Standing still is not an option - there are consequences if we don't deliver planned and managed change in out health and social care system," she adds.

Mrs O'Neill unveils her full vision for the her vision for heathcare system, entitled Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together, external.

Among the measures the health minister is announcing are a short-term plan to tackle waiting lists that will begin in January next year, and an increase to GP and nursing training places to end a reliance on international recruitment.

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She also wants more all-Ireland services, particularly in support for new mothers.

"We will replace a culture of targets and blame with one that focuses on outcomes and improvements," she tells MLAs.

Northern Ireland's health system is at "breaking point" and needs "wholesale transformation", Health Minister Michelle O'Neill tells the assembly.

The current model is an "unsustainable", she says, but implementing recommendations in the Bengoa Report is "not a quick fix" and could take two assembly mandates to full implement - that would be a total of 10 years.

Healthcare will take up 90% of the Northern Ireland Executive's budget by 2026 if no changes are put in place, she says.

And here is the full report by Prof Bengoa and his expert panel, entitled Systems, Not Structures - Changing Health and Social Care, external.

So, what is the Bengoa Report, why was it commissioned, and what can we expect from it?

Image source, Prof Rafael Bengoa

It was ordered by Stormont ministers seeking advice on how to improve services, cut waiting lists and care for an aging population.

Our Q&A outlines more on the long-awaited, much anticipated report.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt raises a point of order, saying that ministers failed to provide papers with information on statements their are providing today in good time.

The "non-delivery" of papers ahead of debates, he says, does not help the assembly's scrutiny process.

Speaker Robin Newton says Health Minister Michelle O'Neill failed to meet the requirement to give MLAs a copy her statement on the Bengoa Report 30 minutes ahead of debate, and she apologises to the house.

The outcome major review of Northern Ireland's healthcare system is set to be unveiled by Health Minister Michelle O'Neill this morning.

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The report, drawn up by a six-person expert panel lef by Spanish Prof  Rafael Bengoa, was handed to the minister in July.

It is the latest in a series of review that have suggested ways in which the system needs to change.

Welcome along to our Stormont Live coverage on what is a glorious Tuesday morning up here on the hill.

We've got a long day of business ahead, starting with the unveiling of the Bengoa Report on reforming Northern Ireland's healthcare system at 10:30.