Northern Trust records Improvement in ambulance handovers despite ongoing pressures in emergency departments

Ambulance handover times have shown “some improvement” across the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, board members have been told.

Presenting a performance report for May at a meeting at Antrim Hospital last week, Neill Martin, Divisional Director of Strategic Planning, Performance and ICT, said that 11.8 per cent of patients arriving by ambulance were handed over to medical staff within 15 minutes at Antrim Area Hospital, compared with 8.6 per cent at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.

Eighty-five per cent of patients were handed over to staff within 60 minutes at Antrim Hospital during the month, while the figure stood at 83 per cent at Causeway Hospital.

However, 35 per cent of patients at Antrim Hospital waited more than two hours to be transferred to hospital care, compared with 16 per cent at Causeway Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Northern Trust’s average ambulance patient handover time has halved.

During May, the average handover time was 37 minutes at Antrim Hospital and 39 minutes at Causeway Hospital.

By comparison, the Trust reported average ambulance turnaround times of 74 minutes at Antrim Hospital and 82 minutes at Causeway Hospital during April.

In April, 250 patients arriving by ambulance waited more than two hours to be transferred into the care of Antrim Hospital, while 100 patients experienced similar delays at Causeway Hospital.

During the same month, 70 per cent of handovers took place within 60 minutes at Antrim Hospital and 60 per cent at Causeway Hospital.

Only 7.9 per cent of patients arriving by ambulance at Antrim Hospital were handed over within 15 minutes in April, while the figure at Causeway Hospital was 5.9 per cent.

Speaking at the Trust Board meeting in May, interim Chief Executive Suzanne Pullins said there had “undoubtedly” been an improvement.

“Ambulance turnaround times have been an area of focus for a very long time,” she said.

A report on ambulance handovers in Northern Ireland published by the Northern Ireland Audit Office in March 2025 stated that “timely ambulance handovers require appropriate capacity and resources throughout the hospital, including in EDs and adequate care capacity within the community to enable timely patient discharges”.

Audrey Harris, Director of Medicine and Emergency Medicine, told last week’s Trust Board meeting:

“We are still meeting NIAS improvement targets. In the last two weeks, we were the highest performing region.

“It is also important to note that within the Northern Trust, NIAS handles the highest number of calls.”

At noon on July 2, there were 102 patients waiting in the emergency department at Antrim Hospital and 66 waiting at Causeway Hospital.

Of these, 42 patients at Antrim Hospital had been waiting more than 12 hours, along with 21 patients at Causeway Hospital.

Meanwhile, 42 patients at Antrim Hospital were awaiting admission to a hospital bed, compared with 24 patients at Causeway Hospital.