Debate contribution: Ambulance Waiting Times: Altnagelvin
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 3 November 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Ambulance Waiting Times: Altnagelvin
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5213318
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Again, let me check exactly where we are with the double ED waits. It was the RQIA assessment of the impact of moving emergency general surgery to Altnagelvin that exposed to the public the idea of people having a wait for assessment in the ED in the South West Acute Hospital but then having to do that again when they get to Altnagelvin. I think that the trust was already on it, as it were, but had not cracked it. It was aware that it was an issue that needed to be addressed and that we did not have to have the double ED wait. Of course, under Encompass, instead of having to put a big physical file in an ambulance with a patient, you can say, "This patient will be with you in whatever time", and the incoming team can look at Encompass and see the diagnosis and all the rest of it. If double ED waits are still happening, I would be concerned about that. The Member is nodding to say that that is still happening. I will certainly take that away, because I was of the impression that we might well have seen that problem off by now.
201 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 (0.93).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.93 | 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 | 0.99 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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