It comes after he confirmed that more than £70m of £215m ring-fenced to tackle Northern Ireland’s waiting lists has been diverted towards reducing the Department of Health’s overall budget deficit.

Ms McAllister has said: “This redirection of funds, from what should be the Health Minister’s number one goal of tackling waiting lists, only further demonstrates that the Department of Health (DoH) has a serious issue managing its budget.

“That this confirmation came from the minister during a discussion in the Assembly around the, frankly, disgraceful wait many cancer patients face to receive treatment is all the more concerning.

“The minister needs to provide additional clarity on ring-fenced money within his budget being redirected to deal with the deficit, or indeed if there are other examples where ring-fenced funds have not been used in the way we have been led to believe.

“That such a deficit even exists in the Department of Health’s budget is evidence of the clear need to reform our health services in Northern Ireland – the current system is not working. We already know that DoH is going into the next financial year with a reduced budget due to funds being brought forward to deal with pay uplifts.

“The minister needs to get his department’s financial management under control in order to deliver health services the people of NI deserve, and reform of the system is crucial to this. Until other parties get serious about working towards transformation, I have no doubt that we will be in this situation again in the future."