Irish ambulance teams provide support in Northern Ireland amid tense health services

PARAMEDICS FROM IRELAND The ambulance service worked in Northern Ireland last night to provide support across the border.

Teams from the Irish National Ambulance Service (INAS) are working with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service over the weekend to provide support to patients while health services in the north are under pressure.

In a statement to TheJournal.ie, the HSE said the ambulance service was “contacted by our colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) requesting support over the weekend due to extraordinary circumstances.”

“All of our teams worked well together and our plan is to support our colleagues at NIAS in maintaining service delivery and prehospital care during a particularly challenging time for them,” said the HSE.

HSE CEO Paul Reid tweeted last night that “in Belfast, teams from the National Ambulance Service of Ireland [are] working with colleagues from the Northern Ambulance Service ”.

“People’s health takes priority,” Reid said.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service has indicated the pressure it has been under in recent days.

In statements on social media, the service has warned the public that it will prioritize calls to deal with those related to the most serious illnesses or injuries.

“The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service is very busy at the moment. We ask for your patience, ”the statement said.

“We will prioritize calls to provide the fastest response to the most seriously ill or injured.”

“Consider other options, but if you need to call 999, don’t hesitate. Less urgent calls will face longer waits for an ambulance response. “

Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken thanked the INAS teams for their support in the North on social media.

“Many thanks to @AmbulanceNAS @HSELive for coming to help @ NIAS999 during this unprecedented crisis,” Aiken said.

“It is great to see this very positive example of North / South cooperation,” he said.

Queues of ambulances formed outside some hospitals in Northern Ireland earlier this week with the health service under pressure.

Hospitals in Northern Ireland have frequently operated at or above capacity during the pandemic, meaning that the demand for hospital beds is greater than the available occupancy.

On Thursday, the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to another blockade from December 26 that will last six weeks.

The measures are expected to include the closure of non-essential retail and close contact services, and the hospitality sector will only be able to operate take-out services.

Prime Minister Arlene Foster has said that Northern Ireland is facing a “very difficult situation with the spread of Covid-19 at an alarming rate.”

“We are faced with a great difficulty throughout Northern Ireland, people must recognize that and must recognize the fact that they must ensure personal responsibility in their actions during the next period of time that people must reduce their social contacts in to protect themselves themselves and their families, ”Foster said.

“They really need to take that seriously because sadly that hasn’t been the case, and we have to improve our game a lot to be able to move towards the finish line,” he said.