THE NI Ambulance Service (NIAS) has apologised to anyone in Fermanagh who may have waited longer for an ambulance than expected. Responding to an recent incident in the county where a young injured GAA player faced a two hour wait for an ambulance, NIAS outlined the extreme pressures it is currently experiencing across the North.
“We are sorry for the delay in providing such a response. It is not the service that we want to provide,” said an NIAS spokesman. The spokesman explained that wider pressures on the health system, particularly regarding EDs, was resulting in “prolonged turnaround times for ambulances at EDs, which impacts upon our ability to respond to emergency calls within the community.”
They added, “NIAS operates a clinical triage system to ensure that the most clinically ill or urgent calls receive the most immediate response.
“Unfortunately, this means that those patients whose needs are less clinically urgent will face delays in ambulance response.”
NIAS has asked the public to consider “alternatives to 999”, where clinically appropriate, such as self-transport, “to assist in dealing with the pressures we are currently experiencing.”
“We will always try and respond to every call as quickly as possible and we will continue to prioritise those calls which are immediately life threatening,” they said.
The spokesman also outlined how NIAS was working with the Department of Health with the aim of increasing investment in the service, including in staff and the ambulance fleet.
However, a local paramedic has explained how there is only so much NIAS itself can do to improve the situation, and pointed instead to the cuts in services at the SWAH as one of the main reasons for the current pressures.
In particular, the removal of emergency general surgery from the Enniskillen hospital, which has resulted in Fermanagh patients requiring urgent surgical treatment having to travel to Altnagelvin.
Speaking via campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS), the paramedic said, “It wouldn’t make a difference unless the unplanned, temporary changes are reverted to before.
“Operationally, you can’t beat distanced by running more ambulances“The bottom line would be, if the status quo continues, the likelihood of putting on another emergency ambulance in Fermanagh would mean it will spend as much time outside Altnagelvin as the current ones are.”
A SOAS spokesperson said it was clear “the only thing that will stop this is where an ambulance can bring people to their local hospital for, at least, stabilisation and that does involve having a consultant surgeon in the building 24/7.”
“No amount of putting ambulances there is going to make anyone stablisable in SWAH,” they said.
“What they need to do is infill the services in the hospital, put in emergency surgeons, and everything will flow better.”
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