NIAS admits to patient safety concerns

THE NI Ambulance Service (NIAS) has admitted that delays in its response times are putting patients at risk.
In the minutes for its June board meeting, NIAS discussed its 999 response times, citing ‘persistent handover delay’ and staff availability – due to crews over working their scheduled hours – as among the reasons for long delays.
The report outlined how the average response time for its second most serious call outs – which have a response time target of 18 minutes – was in fact 55 minutes, with some patients waiting up to two hours and two minutes.
The report noted, “The delay in this category 2 response time is having a significant impact on patient safety.”
Campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) said it was ‘gravely concerned’ about ambulance availability and delays.
“SOAS have heard so many stories from patients, but many from staff on the front line of both hospitals and indeed the ambulance service of the excessive times,” said a spokesperson.
“When you first feel pain or have an emergency, that is when the clock starts ticking.”
Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Pat Cullen called for urgent clarity.
“At a time when there are concerns about the robustness of ambulance cover in Fermanagh, it is vital the public are given clarity on the 568 emergency transfers, and in particular how many of these transfers would have been prevented if EGS was restored to the SWAH,” she said.
Jill Weir, chair of the Fermanagh Council of Trade Unions, described the statistics as ‘shocking’.
“All those extra journeys, it’s not a great road, putting stress on the patient, it’s also very stressful for our NIAS staff, they are stretched enough and not forgetting the carbon footprint this leaves.”
She praised frontline NHS staff for their dedication under pressure: “Our NHS staff, paramedics, nurses and doctors go above and beyond every single day. They work through exhaustion, often without a break, drink, or rest. The problem is never them, it’s the system.”