Lisburn and Castlereagh councillors hear of ‘significant’ improvements to ambulance blocking problems
A new Northern Ireland ambulance handover system has seen "significant improvement" in waiting times, Lisburn and Castlereagh councillors have heard.
The South Eastern and Belfast trusts have responded to concerns raised in the council chamber amid a target for maximum two-hour slots for ambulances outside hospitals.
The ‘release to rescue’ protocol implemented on April 27 is said to have seen “slick decision making” to improve flow through all health trusts, despite concerns patients would potentially over load the system.
At the latest Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council monthly meeting, Lisburn North DUP councillor Jonathan Craig said: “I have a very serious question, this is something that has been brought to my attention.
"Right across the UK there have been massive issues around ambulance blocking.
"The amount of ambulance trusts across the UK that have now introduced minimum or maximum waiting times at a hospital after which they leave.
"It is my firm belief that is going to be introduced in Northern Ireland fairly soon, so you may have a situation where all of a sudden you find yourself with a massive influx of patients because the ambulance crews are no longer allowed to stay and have to move on to treat and deal with other patients.
"That has major implications for the trusts, are you ready for that fundamental change that is coming in that service?”
The chamber heard the new ambulance protocol has now been engaged with early signs of improvements at hospitals in the district.
Previous public statistics have shown one patient waited over 19 hours in an ambulance parked outside the Ulster Hospital in December 2025.
It is understood that the new protocol aims to lower the waiting times down towards a standard 15-minute handover time.
South Eastern Trust, director of planning, performance and informatics, Helen Moore said: “It’s called the release to rescue protocol and it is a wait time of a maximum before an ambulance can hand over to go out to rescue and that is two hours.
"We had a workshop meeting with all the trusts in this building (Lagan Valley Island) in March to organise ourselves and improve flow, it’s is not just about the ambulance at the door, but the entire system.
"It means really slick decision making. We have put a new plan in place we have definitely seen a significant improvement on our waiting times for ambulance handovers.
"We have definitely seen a change on the Ulster Hospital site and we work with our Lagan Valley and Downe hospitals as part of that.”
Belfast Trust, director of performance planning and informatics, Alastair Campbell added: “We totally acknowledge the risks that ambulances are flagging up and the risks to patients not being picked up by an ambulance is probably the biggest risk there is.
"We are doing all we can to make sure patients aren’t waiting in the back of ambulances.
"I think everyone is completely bought in to the process of turning around ambulance waiting times and to get them back out to get the patients who is not being seen.”