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In November 2023 a patient had to wait 12 hours and 13 minutes in an ambulance outside Craigavon Hospital prior to being admitted. In the same month another patient had to wait 6 hours and 10 minutes in an ambulance at Daisy Hill Hospital. On average patients had to wait a total of 1 hour 30 minutes in an ambulance at Craigavon while they had an average 48 minute wait at Daisy Hill. All these figures don't include the time it took an ambulance to reach the patient and transport them to the hospital. To put that in perspective the NHS Standard Contract sets the target that “all handovers between ambulance and A&E must take place within 15 minutes with none waiting more than 30 minutes”
Newry and Armagh MLA Justin McNulty believes recent service withdrawals at Daisy Hill Hospital are risking peoples safety. Emergency General Surgery has been removed from the hospital.
The above figures were released by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and show that Craigavon Area Hospital has the second worst ambulance handover times in the North.
Mr McNulty said “Current ambulance transfer times at Craigavon Area Hospital are totally unacceptable – no one should face the indignity of having to wait for 12 hours to get out of an ambulance to receive the medical care they need.
“People in Newry and South Armagh were told that they had nothing to fear from the withdrawal of emergency general surgery from Daisy Hill, and that it was “safer” for people in the Newry area to be transferred by ambulance to receive treatment at Craigavon. These figures from the ambulance service run a coach and horses through that argument."
Speaking about an incident in Rostrevor on Easter Sunday the MLA added “Last week we had a stark reminder of how disconnected we are from Craigavon, after young Charlie Brown was left waiting for 90 minutes before an ambulance arrived.
“I have consistently challenged the Department of Health and the Southern Trust to recognise the high-risk approach they are taking by diverting people in Newry, South Armagh and South Down to Craigavon for treatment that they should be getting in Daisy Hill.
“For me, the bottom line is simple: the Department of Health’s approach at Daisy Hill is fundamentally flawed. It is diminishing access to health services, making it more difficult for people in need of urgent medical treatment to get the care they need, and it’s actually leaving people languishing in the back of ambulances waiting to be seen in overcrowded hospitals.
“This is a sobering report from the NI Ambulance Service. The health authorities would do well to heed it, to reinforce services at Daisy Hill, and ensure that people in Newry, South Armagh and South Down aren’t treated like second class citizens.”
