Almost 5,000 ambulance calls made over Christmas week as NI health pressures continue

Almost 5,000 emergency calls were made to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service over the Christmas week.

According to the latest figures, there were 882 calls on Christmas Day with the highest number, 1,047, made on 28 December.

Altogether, 4,705 emergency calls were made from 24 to 28 December.

Mark Cochrane from the NI Ambulance Service says the situation is worse than ever.

"It has been sustained (pressure) right from last week, right through Christmas, it's been a very busy Christmas period," he said.

"In the two days immediately after Christmas we always expect to see high numbers of calls but this year it's been particularly high with over 1,000 calls on each of the last two days."

The statistics come as severe strain across Northern Ireland's hospitals continues.

As of noon on Thursday, over 400 people were waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments across the province.

On Wednesday evening, the South Eastern Trust released an urgent appeal for staff to come in and help, while the Belfast Trust said on Thursday morning that the hospital for sick children was extremely busy.

James Large, who is the regional convener for health at the union UNISON, told UTV that staff are at breaking point.

"The pressure's been building and it hasn't eased any over the past number of years, the pressure's building the staff are feeling the strain and have been for a considerable period of time," he said.

"There is fundamental changes that need made in the system and the first part of that would be a significant investment in domiciliary care in the community, so patients can be discharged from hospital to ease the pressure on ED.

"I can speak in terms of what I have seen in work in the Ulster Hospital - it's been constant, we've been talking about this and there's been media coverage over the last few years, the pressure hasn't eased any ... it's just continued and it's continued to build."

Monkstown woman Heather North's father was rushed to hospital over the busy festive period.

Frederick Brodie, who has COPD, was rushed to the Ulster Hospital on Monday.

Heather described the scenes, saying: "While we were waiting to be seen we were just sitting in the chairs in the corridor it was fine, there was a load of people in and there was one poor lady sitting in a wheelchair actually being sick into a sick bag and people just walking back and forth past you."

Heather's father Frederick was assessed in the corridor before being taken into the red zone area.

Heather said: "That area is for Covid and flu and anything to do with chests, and he was put into a recliner sitting right in front a nurses station ... he stayed in that recliner for 26 or 27 hours before they moved him onto a trolley in a corridor.

"Essentially he was just sitting waiting, there was no treatment being done."

A spokesperson for the Southern Trust said the Ulster Hospital's emergency department has been dealing with "unprecedented pressures" after the Christmas period.

It went on: “Like all major Emergency Departments (EDs) across Northern Ireland and indeed across the United Kingdom, the ED at the Ulster Hospital is dealing with unprecedented pressures after the Christmas period. 

"There are now more patients coming to ED with symptoms of Flu and Covid-19. 

"It is important that patients with these infections are segregated from other patients to reduce the risk of cross infection. 

"Regrettably, this requirement has caused an additional delay for some patients waiting outside in ambulances.

"Teams across the hospital and community are working together to ensure that every effort is being made to discharge patients who no longer need an acute hospital bed, transferring patients to wards across the Trust and admitting patients to the ED as soon as possible. 

"We continue to work together with our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

"We would wish to thank patients and their families for their help and understanding."

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