Questions raised over how many people have died while waiting for ambulances in NI

Questions have been raised about just how many patients in Northern Ireland have died in recent years while waiting for an ambulance.

According to new figures, 70 cases have been recorded in the past five years.

However, there has been confusion about this, as a much higher number had been previously disclosed last December.

It comes after the Belfast Telegraph reported how a Co Antrim man died from a heart attack as his wife drove him to hospital because no ambulances were available.

Willy Darragh died en route to Antrim Area Hospital just four days before Christmas. An ambulance had been called when he took ill at his Cullybackey home, but his wife Caroline was told she would have to drive him as it would take too long for paramedics to arrive.

Across the system, our health service is under pressure, with high numbers of patients attending emergency departments, as well as bed shortages and long waits outside hospitals for ambulance handovers.

In January, it came to light that a patient was left waiting in an ambulance outside Antrim Area Hospital for more than a day before being admitted. The total length of the wait was 25 hours and 15 minutes.

The second-longest ambulance handover time in December was at the Ulster Hospital, where a patient waited for 23 hours and 36 minutes.

This week, figures have been released showing how many patients in NI have died while waiting on ambulances in recent years.

During the 2020/21 financial year, there were four such cases. This doubled to eight in 2021/22 and again increased to 17 the next financial year. In 2023/24, a total of 31 people died while waiting for an ambulance.

So far in 2024/25, up to February 21, a further 10 people have died waiting. It is not possible to determine from the figures if ambulance waits contributed to the deaths of these individuals.

Previous information released on December 9 last year following an Assembly question tabled for Mike Nesbitt gave much higher figures for the number of these cases — a total of 149. This was from the beginning of 2020/21 to the date the Assembly answer was issued.

This week, however, Mr Nesbitt said his original response was “inaccurate” and the figure of 70 deaths was provided.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “A recent further validation of data led to the correction of an earlier administrative error. Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) apologises for the error and has given assurances to learn from the incident. The minister acted quickly to place the correct information into the public record.”

SDLP health spokesperson Colin McGrath questioned if the latest figures provided are accurate.

“I would question these new figures from the Health Minister, given the huge pressures facing both our ambulance and health services in recent years,” he said.

“It took months for this to be corrected and I would be seriously concerned that the department may not know the real figure. Our ambulance and health staff give everything to their jobs, but both they and patients are being let down by political failure.

“Everyone deserves dignity in death and I cannot imagine what these patients or their families went through while waiting on these ambulances.

“The figures may have been lowered, but one death of this nature is too many.

“Until we see the Executive taking the difficult decisions necessary to transform our health service and ensure ambulances can respond to those in need in a timely manner, deaths of people waiting on an ambulance will continue and it should be a priority for every party to address this.”

Mr Nesbitt said: “Sadly, given the nature of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service’s work, patients do, at times, pass away while awaiting an ambulance to arrive.

“However, the determination as to whether a delayed ambulance response has directly contributed to a patient’s death is complex and requires the consideration of a number of factors.

“As part of NIAS’s adverse incident management procedures, all reported incidents of patient death are evaluated to assess whether the timeliness of ambulance response may have impacted the outcome, and, where required, learning and corrective actions are implemented to service delivery.”

Last month, this newspaper reported a significant rise in complaints against the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, complaints increased from 93 to 280.

Earlier this year, the Assembly passed a motion calling on the Health Minister to urgently bring forward proposals to improve the availability and capacity of ambulance services.

During the debate on the motion, Mr Nesbitt said that patient flow and resources are at the core of the issue and he would be commissioning a review of emergency care capacity.

“Our ambulance staff are facing the daily challenge of not having sufficient available resource to respond appropriately for timely dispatch, timely response and timely delivery into EDs,” he said.

“Like all staff involved in emergency health service delivery, they are asked again and again, day after day, to make judgement calls not about what is the best option, but about what is the least-worst option.

“With that comes a constant worry about whether they have made the right least-worst decision, and that is a worry that they often take home with them at night.”