9th December 2022

Industrial Action Latest Information

With industrial action planned across HSC on Monday 12 December, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service anticipates significant disruption to our Service throughout the 24 hour period of action.

NIAS has been engaging constructively with Trade Union colleagues to ensure, as far as possible, a response to the most clinically urgent calls. With the resources that will be available to us on the day, NIAS will prioritise calls to provide the quickest and most appropriate response to meet the clinical needs of patients.

NIAS resources will be prioritised towards Category 1 and Category 2 calls as they are the most clinically urgent. NIAS will seek to ensure that the less urgent needs of Category 3 and Category 4 patients are responded to in as timely a manner as possible. However, calls to the 999 service which are less serious in nature, potentially, face a delay in response times and NIAS would ask for patience from callers in this regard.

As always NIAS would encourage callers to consider other options open to them in relation to their care, including self transport to Emergency Departments. By so doing, you will help keep ambulances free for emergencies, particularly during this challenging period. However if it is necessary to dial 999, please do not hesitate.

Regrettably we will not be able to provide our full level of non-emergency transport to hospital appointments and will be prioritising available resources for cancer (including palliative care) and renal patients and for emergency paediatric transfers.

NIAS acknowledges the commitment and dedication of all our staff on a daily basis to provide the best possible care for patients and thanks them for their co-operation during this period of industrial action.