It is inevitable that there will be a fair degree of scepticism about the latest plan to reform our health service as, to put it mildly, we have been down the same road on many previous occasions.
However, it remains a vitally important project, and by some distance the most important priority for all our Stormont representatives, so it is essential that every aspect of it is thoroughly and fairly assessed.
The task has been handed to Mike Nesbitt in the kind of unexpected circumstances which have tended to typify the health portfolio since our devolved structures were first introduced and most notably in recent years.
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It became clear that the two main parties, Sinn Féin and the DUP, frequently found heading the department to be a bruising experience, and were happy to instead allow it to be allocated to the Ulster Unionist Party under the D’Hondt system.
When Robin Swann first took on the role in 2020, shortly after what was accepted to have been an unfulfilling period as his party leader, there was very little optimism about his prospects.
He still managed to approach the task with considerable determination, even though he found himself having to deal with the unprecedented Covid crisis a matter of weeks after his appointment, and was able to make a strongly positive impact until yet another Stormont suspension arrived in 2022.
Mike Nesbitt is in charge of a uniquely complex department at a stage when every facet of its work is surrounded by ever more critical financial pressures
Mr Swann should have been well placed to make further progress when he returned to office in February of this year, but the unpredictable nature of public life saw his departure little over two months later to make what turned out to be a successful challenge for the South Antrim seat in the UK general election.
While there was some surprise that he considered a switch to the House of Commons, where he is the sole Ulster Unionist representative and his influence will be strictly limited, to be a more attractive prospect than the Stormont health ministry, party political considerations were plainly a key factor in the decision.
All this saw Mr Nesbitt chosen as his replacement, leaving another new face in charge of a uniquely complex department at a stage when every facet of its work is surrounded by ever more critical financial pressures.
He needs to negotiate his way through a labyrinth and his first action earlier this week was to launch a “Live Better” initiative intended to bring more support to communities that need it most.
There will be widespread agreement with his declaration that tackling the inequalities between the poorest and the wealthiest in our society must be central to health reform but, as is always the case in an unforgiving post, he will be judged on deeds rather than words.
