Debate contribution: Altnagelvin Area Hospital: A&E Waiting Times
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 15 October 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Altnagelvin Area Hospital: A&E Waiting Times
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4592733
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member. To address ambulance handover times, which are critical, my Department has taken steps to improve waiting times at emergency departments. Reducing those handover delays has been a key priority because of the impact that it has on the Ambulance Service's capacity to respond to calls in the community, particularly category 1 and category 2 emergency calls. A regional process has been issued by my Department to all the geographic trusts for the release of ambulances from outside EDs when the Ambulance Service has an outstanding category 1 or category 2 call. Trusts have been working with the Ambulance Service to introduce new care pathways for patients to provide alternatives to conveying all patients to an ED. I would also say that it is about the flow, as the Member will be aware. When I started in the Department, one of the cost savings that were put to me, which I could not countenance, was cutting a significant number of hours of domiciliary care. If we were to do that, even more patients who are ready for discharge would be stuck in a bed, particularly in an acute hospital, and, if those beds are not vacant, the people in the ED who are trying to get into those beds would be stuck in ED and, therefore, the people in the ambulances would not get into the ED. It is all about the flow. I assure the Member that we are well focused on that in the Department.
250 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: 0.02 (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 (0.88).
- 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 | 0.88 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | 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 11:26 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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