The Northern Trust has halted plans to withdraw its Phone First telephone triage service, which had been scheduled to end on 27 November. The pause follows an instruction from the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG), part of the Department of Health, issued on 5 November.

Suzanne Pullins, the Trust's interim chief executive, told the Assembly Health Committee on Thursday 5 November that the Trust had been advised to pause the formal withdrawal to allow for reassessment. She said the intervention came "quite late in this pathway" and that the Trust needed to work with its provider, Dalriada Urgent Care, on next steps.

In a statement, the Trust said discussions with Dalriada Urgent Care are ongoing to ensure continuity of service. No agreed extension period or permanent funding arrangement has been announced. The Trust said patients and stakeholders would be kept informed of developments.

Phone First, which operates Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and does not run on bank holidays, assesses patients' needs and directs them to appropriate care. It was available for urgent issues short of serious illness or injury at Antrim Area Hospital, Causeway Hospital and the Minor Injuries Unit at Mid Ulster Hospital.

The proposed closure formed part of a programme requiring the Trust to deliver 53.8 million pounds in savings this financial year. The Trust anticipated saving 500,000 pounds from withdrawing the service. During the committee briefing, Trust officials said approved plans left a shortfall of approximately 1.6 million pounds. Director of finance Stevie Lennon acknowledged that if the Phone First saving did not materialise after reassessment, that gap would increase.

Committee members questioned whether the anticipated saving might be offset by additional emergency department demand. One member described the proposal as "a false economy", arguing costs could rise elsewhere in the system. Trust leaders defended the original proposal as a difficult financial decision intended to protect core frontline services, and Ms Pullins said it did not reflect a negative assessment of Phone First itself.

At the time of the briefing, 58 people were awaiting a bed in Antrim's emergency department, and 159 patients across Antrim and Causeway hospitals who were medically fit for discharge remained in acute beds awaiting onward care arrangements.