To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, given the reliance on private ambulance services, whether he plans to increase the number of Northern Ireland Ambulance Service personnel.

Mr Hamilton (The Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety)

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) is not reliant on using private ambulance services. Private ambulance providers are used only in exceptional circumstances such as those that arose during the recent periods of industrial action on 13 March and from 27 April to 10 May. The use of private ambulance services on those occasions was under the NIAS resource escalation plan to support the Ambulance Service's resources. The private ambulance services were engaged primarily to deal with non-emergency calls in order to protect capacity for Northern Ireland Ambulance Service staff to be deployed in response to 999 calls.

Mr Hamilton

Issues that were highlighted by the recent industrial action have been dealt with, and I am confident that the escalation plans that are in place in the trusts are appropriate to deal with that. At the minute, there are roughly 94 vacancies in the Ambulance Service, and many of those posts have been for emergency medical technicians. Around 90 of those positions have been offered to ambulance care attendants. I hope that the filling of those vacancies could help to alleviate some of the pressures that manifested themselves during the recent industrial action but which can also be seen in intervening periods when there is pressure on existing resources. Many constituents of mine and many constituents of other Members will have reported difficulties with the slowness, sometimes, of response times in the Ambulance Service. I hope that moving to fill those vacancies might help to address some of those pressures.

Mr G Robinson

Will the Minister state how the number of paramedics working in the health service in Northern Ireland has changed over recent years?

Mr Hamilton

If you go back to the beginning of the current Assembly term — roughly the end of March 2011 — the number of paramedics employed in the Ambulance Service in Northern Ireland was 379. If you fast-forward to March 2015, that number has risen. Even though I pointed out to Ms Sugden the vacancies that exist, which we are trying to fill, there are currently 415 paramedics, and that includes 80 rapid-response vehicle paramedics. In that four-year period between 2011 and 2015, there has been a 9·4% increase in the number of paramedics, and that has to be warmly welcomed. I appreciate that, even with that additional complement, there are still pressures on the service and that there can still be difficulties, but it is testimony to the work of my predecessors in post that, even at a time when resources have been under severe pressure, as we all know, investments have been made in the front line. The Ambulance Service is a front-line service, and our paramedics and our care attendants are incredibly important to the overall service, so a near 10% increase in the number of Northern Ireland Ambulance Service paramedics over that period of time is testimony to the commitment that we have made to the front line in that period.

Mr Dallat

I preface my question by paying tribute to the Ambulance Service, certainly in the northern and western areas. Does the Minister agree with me that, when someone makes that 999 call, they expect a response?

Given that there are 94 vacancies, would the Minister agree that that in itself is an emergency?

Mr Hamilton

I agree. I join with Mr Dallat in paying tribute to the work that staff in the Ambulance Service do on behalf of us all; it was remiss of me not to do so earlier. Our citizens should expect the highest standard of service from them as from all in the health and social care sector. There are issues with response times that I have been familiarising myself with, as you can imagine, over the last number of days. Unfortunately, sometimes some targets, particularly the eight-minute response time for life-threatening calls, or category A calls as they are called, are not being met. That is in spite of the investment that I outlined to Mr Robinson to increase the number of paramedics. We all appreciate the range of pressures. Going back to the original question asked by Ms Sugden, we are, thankfully, able to use private and charitable providers, such as St John Ambulance, the Order of Malta and the Red Cross, to alleviate some of the pressure so that Ambulance Service staff can deal with life-threatening calls and emergency situations, so that when somebody, unfortunately, has to make the call, they are getting responded to appropriately and in the appropriate time. We know that, when they do get responded to, they get the best of care.

Mr Allister

In terms of the adequacy of ambulance provision, would the Minister undertake to look again at the provision of air ambulance services in light of the events on Saturday at the North West 200, where a spectator had to be airlifted to hospital? Can he comment on the fact that, although the severe trauma unit is at the Royal Victoria Hospital, there is no facility to land a helicopter at that hospital, adding to the delay in transporting severely injured personnel?

Mr Hamilton

The Member is right to raise the incident at the weekend. It again highlights the issue of air ambulance provision in Northern Ireland. We were all shocked by the severity of the incident at the North West 200. Pictures in the press today showed how serious it was. We pay tribute to the staff who responded, and obviously our thoughts are with those still in hospital who are being cared for. We wish them a speedy recovery. The Health and Social Care Board submitted a report to my Department on the feasibility and appropriateness of establishing a dedicated helicopter emergency medical service in Northern Ireland. I am awaiting the report of the emergency aeromedical support services group that was established by the Republic of Ireland's Department of Health to consider the provision of a dedicated service in that jurisdiction. I imagine that will include recommendations in relation to the potential for the expansion of the geographical reach of that service to include the whole of the island. When the report is received, I will consider those recommendations in conjunction with the Health and Social Care Board study before making a final decision on the matter. Mr Allister is also right to point out one of the practical difficulties in the provision of air ambulances. I do not think anybody would dispute that, where we had appropriate resources, it would be a good thing to do on our own or with our neighbours to the south. However, that would require investment in not just a helicopter but staff, maintenance, upkeep and infrastructure changes to ensure there is an appropriate place to land a helicopter. That is one reason why, at this stage, even if we had an air ambulance, it would not necessarily be working to its optimum performance. There are a lot of points to consider. It is on the agenda, and the events of the weekend highlight it all the more.

Mr Hussey

Like Mr Dallat, I pay tribute to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. I had the misfortune of having to travel recently in an ambulance with my late mother to the South West Acute Hospital. The paramedics who dealt with my mother were excellent. Does the Minister know how much compulsory overtime ambulance drivers and paramedics have to undertake because of the 98 paramedic vacancies, or whatever number it is?

Mr Hamilton

I don't is the simple answer, but I am happy to provide that information to the Member in due course. It is worth pointing out that Ms Sugden's question was a useful one in that it highlighted the provision being provided by others in support of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. That support is primarily for non-emergency situations where patients are moved from hospital back to their home or from their home to hospital for appointments. It is worth noting the work being done on our behalf by other providers, and I hope that there is an acceptance around the House that it is a good thing that we are able to call upon that resource as appropriate. I do not have the specifics on the amount of overtime being paid, but I am happy to provide that information to the Member in due course.