Debate contribution: Ambulance Waiting Times

Debate contribution by Mr Alan Robinson on 13 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Alan Robinson

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

13 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Ambulance Waiting Times

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4738593

Read the official Assembly record

Text

We should all be gravely concerned about the pressures facing the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the profound impact that those pressures are having on patients with life-threatening and emergency health needs across the Province. None of us knows when we, a family member or a constituent will need an ambulance. Indeed, when I saw the headlines over Christmas about multiple ambulances queueing outside hospitals and patients waiting 19 hours in the back of an ambulance, given that I had elderly relatives who were very unwell at that time, I would be lying if I said that it did not fill me with fear. However, it would be pretty selfish of me to say that it put a dampener on my Christmas, as it pales into insignificance compared with the fear of the patients in those ambulances and the staff who had a huge, pressurised responsibility on their shoulders to deal with people in life-or-death situations. Over the past year, we have seen that response time targets for category 1, 2 and 3 calls have been missed consistently month after month. As far back as 2022-23, over 100,000 on-the-road hours were lost due to Northern Ireland Ambulance Service ambulances missing handover time targets and having to wait outside emergency departments. As the service struggles under huge strain, it is a clear indicator that there is something fundamentally broken in the way that we are delivering emergency healthcare in Northern Ireland. The missing of those targets throughout the year cannot be blamed solely on the current sustained pressure due to the large numbers of patients presenting with flu-type illness. Category 1 call targets, which relate to patients in the most critical situations, are missed with disturbing frequency. Category 2 calls, which include serious but not immediately life-threatening emergencies, and category 3 calls, which relate to patients with urgent health concerns, are also suffering with unacceptable delays. Due to the missed targets, we are failing to meet the basic needs of the most vulnerable citizens when they need help the most. The issues facing our Ambulance Service are not new. The Department of Health is aware of these challenges, yet it does not have the ability to address them. Pressures on that hard-working workforce have been exacerbated by the delays in admitting patients to hospital, with a lack of flow in the system, including a lack of available domiciliary care. Ambulances, often filled with patients in desperate need of care, are left waiting outside hospitals for hours, unable to hand over the patients to EDs. That gridlock further exacerbates the delays and strains on the entire system. The consequences of that should fill all of us in the Chamber with fear. Lives are being put at risk, and lives have been lost, with 12 patients dying in 2024-25 while waiting for an ambulance. However, the Department states that patient deaths whilst waiting for an ambulance can be complex and that a number of factors need to be considered. Families are being left in limbo, unsure whether the care that their loved ones need will arrive in time. For those who do receive care, the experience of waiting for an ambulance, sometimes for far longer than is medically acceptable, adds unnecessary distress and anxiety at an already difficult time. Patients deserve better, and they deserve a health service in Northern Ireland that can respond swiftly when their lives are in danger. Dedicated ambulance staff deserve the resources, training and support that they need to do their jobs effectively and safely. Therefore, I support the motion and the call for Minister of Health to bring forward any proposals to help to address that. It is imperative that there is a comprehensive Ambulance Service workforce plan that not only attracts new staff but ensures that current staff are supported, trained and better equipped to meet the demands of that vital service. The issues in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service are only one part of the jigsaw. The wider health and social care system needs to be repaired to resolve the delays in patient handover and the lack of capacity in our EDs. The bottlenecks contribute to the crisis that we are witnessing and are in desperate need of being addressed. Today is yet another critical moment for Northern Ireland's health service at a time that, staff say, has been and continues to be the most difficult in its history. The Ambulance Service is the pipeline that connects individuals to the care that they need in their most vulnerable moments. A forward-looking strategy that supports the new clinical response model is an absolute must, ensuring that the right response is available at the right time for every patient, regardless of the complexity of their condition. I therefore support the motion.

794 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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