Motion or amendment: Ambulance Handovers
Motion or amendment by Mr Matthew O'Toole on .
- MLA
- Mr Matthew O'Toole
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 11 March 2025
- Type
- Motion or amendment
- Business
- Motion · Private Members' Motion
- Heading
- Ambulance Handovers
- Assembly identifier
- Document 432054
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
Ambulance Handovers
That this Assembly recognises that emergency services play a critical role in providing care to those in urgent need; expresses deep concern at the findings of the Northern Ireland Audit Office March 2025 report on ambulance handovers which outlines how severe delays are putting patient safety at risk and wasting significant resources; notes that only 7 per cent of handovers meet the 15 minute target, with some exceeding 10 hours; further notes the impact of delays on emergency response times, hospital capacity, and frontline staff; and calls on the Minister of Health, with the support of Executive colleagues, to urgently introduce the recommendations set out in the SDLP policy, Help Can’t Wait, including the introduction of the W45 policy used by the London Ambulance Service, the standardisation of guidance across all Health and Social Care Trusts, a commitment to increase medical capacity, improve processes to reduce ambulance handover delays and improve patient flow across the health system.
159 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.97).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.97 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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