4th October 2023
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) experiences significant operational challenges throughout the year due to a range of factors. Nonetheless, the forthcoming winter months will be a challenging time across NIAS, primary care, hospital services and community services and specific actions are being taken to coordinate and respond to patient and service user needs. As always, health and social care relies on the dedication and resilience of all our staff who continue to support new initiatives while delivering existing services with compassion and care.
Below we set out some of the agreed locality actions to support the additional pressures expected over winter. As a NI system, a regional coordination control will ensure the Ambulance Service, Primary and Secondary Care work together to enhance patient flow and reduce service pressures.
The NIAS Locality plan has been developed with the following three regional priorities for the winter period:
- Maximising ambulance capacity.
- Reducing time spent by patients in emergency departments.
- Timely hospital discharge from patients who are medically fit for discharge.
NIAS’s primary focus within the Locality plan is to maximise ambulance capacity across the region and support Trusts with timely discharge of medically fit patients.