Durkan concerned at pressures facing the ambulance service
SDLP health spokesman, Mark. H. Durkan,has expressed concern over a steady increase in ambulance waiting times over the past five years.
He said: “The continued increase in ambulance response times is reflective of the overall pressures within the NIAS who are already stretched to capacity.
“I met with NIAS’s new chair, Nicole Lappin, earlier this month who assured me that they are working hard to resolve current waiting times and bring the service up to scratch. However, with current resource pressures right across the department of health, services have been unable to cope with demand.
“Paramedics and other medical professionals are doing their very best with what they have.”