Downe cuts have hit Ambulance Service

Downe cuts have hit Ambulance Service

12 August 2015

A SENIOR Ambulance Service official has confirmed changes to services provided at the Downe Hospital has had a huge impact on the organisation.

Area manager, Ruth McNamara, who addressed a special meeting of the Down Community Health Committee in Downpatrick last week, said reduced opening hours at the hospital’s accident and emergency department means paramedics are increasingly transporting patients to other hospitals, impacting on their ability to answer local calls.

She explained demand for the service the organisation provides continues to increase and confirmed that performance targets for responding to calls, including emergencies, are not being met.

Ms McNamara revealed the Ambulance Service has been provided with just over £1m in funding for the remainder of the financial year to help it address face some of the issues it faces locally.

She explained the money will be used to recruit and train staff and purchase new vehicles to help meet response times and improve the service the organisation can provide.

Ms McNamara the south east region, which includes Down District, has the third highest level of Ambulance Service activity in Northern Ireland based on the volume of calls made to its control centre in Belfast.

With responsibility for seven ambulance stations, including those in Downpatrick, Newcastle and Ballynahinch, the senior official said demand for its services is increasing by around 3.5 per cent a year.

“Demand is increasing for a variety of reasons. People are living longer and there are more health problems associated with this fact. There are higher expectations from the public on us and the health service in general and we also have to deal with some misuse of the service and quite a lot of hoax calls,” continued Ms McNamara.

“People in this area will be very familiar with the reconfiguration of hospital services and how they are managed. The changes at the Downe, its opening hours and what patients it takes obviously has a huge impact on us because we have longer journey times to other hospitals with patients which means we are travelling further out of the area with them.

“In relation to the reconfiguration of services, there are specialist hospitals which deal with specific things, for example plastic surgery at the Ulster, while the Royal is the recognised trauma centre. As a result, we find ourselves — not only in this area — but all across Northern Ireland, going further and further to get patients to the appropriate hospitals with the specialist services they need and having to wait until patients are taken care of by staff before crews can leave. This does have an impact on us.”

Ms McNamara said year on year there is an increasing demand for ambulance services, with the reconfiguration of hospitals services providing the organisation with a “huge challenge”. 

“There is also a higher demand services in Belfast and we fall foul of that as well. Local resources are responding to calls in higher demand areas due to clearing after attending Belfast hospitals. 

“Years ago, crews went to the local hospital, ped off the patient and either went back to base or got another call. 

“Now the ambulance is going to the Ulster, the Royal or Daisy Hill in Newry and when they get there there is a queue, so everyone is waiting. If a Downpatrick crew clears the queue at the Ulster for example and a child is knocked down at the nearby Ballybean estate, this vehicle is the nearest ambulance and they will get the emergency call because the situation is potentially life threatening. It is always the nearest ambulance which answers that call.”

Ms McNamara said her performance would be better if crews and ambulances remained in her patch, but explained demand in the Belfast area at times does not allow this to happen, admitting the organisation has some work to do on the issue. 

She added: “I understand people’s frustration and them thinking they are as entitled to an ambulance as someone who lives in Belfast. I do have a concern about crews getting kept out of the area for longer and longer and is something we are keen to address.”