Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has been told that ambulance response times in its area are the slowest in Northern Ireland for the most urgent calls. Data presented by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) to the council this week showed that average response to life-threatening Category 1 incidents took just over 17 minutes and 30 seconds. For Category 2 calls, such as strokes, the average wait exceeded one hour and 35 minutes, ranking second-slowest regionally.

By contrast, Belfast recorded the fastest Category 1 response at just over eight minutes. The slowest Category 2 times were in Ards and North Down, where patients averaged one hour and 56 minutes.

Rowallane DUP councillor Jonathan Jackson said residents frequently raised concerns about delays and the fear that a condition could deteriorate from Category 2 to Category 1 while waiting. He described some of the feedback on waiting times as alarming and asked what measures could improve performance.

Fellow Rowallane DUP councillor Callum Bowsie recounted an incident involving a constituent whose father suffered a stroke. The family called an ambulance but after two hours it had not arrived. When they requested an estimated time of arrival, they were told it would be another two hours. The family then drove the patient to hospital themselves, arriving just in time. Bowsie suggested that providing ETAs could help families make decisions about transporting loved ones.

NIAS south area manager Joanne Maguire acknowledged that some response times had been frightening but noted improvements since the introduction of a ‘release to rescue’ initiative. She explained that control room staff make callbacks to check on patients’ conditions and, if needed, recategorise calls to speed up response. She said she could not comment on individual cases regarding ETAs but confirmed that calls can be recategorised.

South east area manager Rebecca Steele added that during periods of high demand, escalations procedures sometimes include providing ETAs. However, many factors influence this, and managing different call categories remains challenging.

The council heard that NIAS continues to work with emergency departments to release crews for Category 1 calls in the vicinity.