Debate contribution: Ambulance Handovers
Debate contribution by Mrs Diane Dodds on .
- MLA
- Mrs Diane Dodds
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 24 March 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Ambulance Handovers
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4864713
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. First of all, I will say, "Thank you", because the tone of the debate has been helpful, and there is consensus across the House on some of the themes. We are happy to support the motion, but we thought that we should maybe recognise that, although this is a potential solution, there are other issues that need to be addressed. They are ours to address, and we need to get on with doing that.
I thank my colleague Alan Robinson for proposing the amendment and highlighting the difficulties in the health system. At the end of the debate, I put it on record once again that the Audit Office report said that delayed ambulance handovers cost us £50 million over five years, including £13·2 million in the most recent year. They caused a 25% reduction in operational capacity and placed close to 4,000 patients at risk of serious harm. They also contributed £37·8 million to an overtime bill for Northern Ireland Ambulance Service staff. At a time when the health service is under pressure in all directions, those are issues that we cannot ignore. During December and the first half of January, we had ambulance handover delays of 16 hours and nine minutes at the Mater Hospital; 19 hours at Causeway Hospital; 23 hours and 36 minutes at the Ulster Hospital; and 25 hours and 15 minutes at Antrim Area Hospital. Those figures in the system really are unacceptable. Debates such as this are important, but it is also important that we have a plan of action to understand exactly what we can do to make things better. Sadly, harm comes to patients. Mr Gaston demonstrated that very well when he talked about the shocking and untimely death of his constituent. I do not think that any one of us can feel anything but shame about the system over which we preside. I know that you, Minister, feel the same. I hope that we will be able to make improvements, so that our community across Northern Ireland is not left at risk of those things happening again. We have discussed across the House many of the issues that are really important when it comes to trying to fix the system, but the one that we keep coming back to is that of the flow of patients through our hospitals. We are in the almost absurd — I use that word advisedly — position in Northern Ireland in which we have sick patients who cannot get into hospital because we have well patients who cannot leave hospital. I do not think that anybody can stand over that kind of situation. No matter what we do, it will come down to fixing the flow of patients through hospitals, including getting them into hospital, onto the ward for treatment and discharged in a timely manner. Any winter health plan to improve the situation will have to demonstrate that that is at its core. That is what will fix ambulance handovers and the harm that is being done to patients and patient safety. I also refer in passing to our session last week — this was brought up by Nuala McAllister — on the issue of palliative care. There are people whom ambulance crews clearly have to take to hospital because there is nowhere else for them to go. At Christmas, at the Southern Area Hospice Services ceremony of remembrance, a lady spoke to me about her sister-in-law, who died in an ED in Craigavon with, as she described it, not even a pillow —
— for her head.
Minister, I know that you are not —
— in favour of any of this, but I urge you to take urgent action.
624 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 (0.95).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | 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 | 0.97 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.02 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:11 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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