Minister for Health approves NIAS proposals for efficiencies and investment. [09/09/09]

The Minister for Health, Mr Michael McGimpsey, MLA, has approved proposals presented to him by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in relation to efficiency savings and Comprehensive Spending Review Investment.

In a statement issued on Thursday 9 September he said;

"Last year I announced record investment in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) of £100 million over the next ten years in vehicles and other vital equipment.

"This includes a major £17 million capital investment up to 2011 to allow the Service to buy 60 new A&E ambulances, 26 Rapid Response Vehicles and a further 60 non-emergency vehicles."

"A further £12 million revenue funding has been allocated to strengthen and support ambulance services so they can respond more quickly to emergency calls and help provide life-saving services to patients who need it. In fact, the public is already starting to benefit from this investment as ambulance response times continue to improve significantly.

" Latest figures show that the ambulance service is exceeding its current target of responding to 70% of category A life threatening calls within 8 minutes with a response figure of nearly 74% within the target. This progess is very welcome and I intend that it should continue."

The investment will also enable the NIAS to replace older ambulances and allow them to move to a The Minister continued: "The budget agreement requires Health and Social Care to achieve £700m in efficiency savings over the three years to 2011. The NIAS has had to find its share of 3% efficiency savings over the next three years. Following careful scrutiny I have now approved their proposals to achieve these savings on the condition that there are no compulsory redundancies and most importantly, that the Ambulance Service abides by its duty to provide high quality, safe and effective services to patients in Northern Ireland.

"In addition, I have asked the NIAS to ensure it closely monitors and evaluates the changes. In particular, they will review the model proposed for Belfast so that they can ensure that it is providing a rapid and life-saving response to all patients.

"I accept that a great deal of work is still necessary to plan and deliver these proposals and I have asked the NIAS to take this forward as a matter of urgency and with full consultation and engagement with the Trade Unions.

"I want to acknowledge the way in which the Ambulance Service has actively sought to engage with the public and have changed a number of their original proposals to take account of public concerns. It is essential that patients receive the best possible care and treatment and that we all continue our efforts to create the world-class health service our population deserves."