To ask the Minister of Health to detail how he intends to measure the impact of the Release to Rescue protocol on (i) ambulance waiting times; (ii) overcrowding and waiting times in Emergency Departments; and (iii) the number and length of stay of patients in corridor beds on wards.

I recognise that ambulance handover delays directly affect the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service’s (NIAS) capacity to respond to emergency calls. Preventing and reducing these delays is therefore a priority for my Department and for Health and Social Care (HSC) services.

The impact of the Release to Rescue protocol on ambulance response times and patient flow across Emergency Departments and hospitals will be measured through established performance, quality and safety monitoring arrangements operating at Trust, regional and Departmental levels, in partnership with NIAS.

My Department monitors ambulance handover performance using daily NIAS reports detailing the number of delays exceeding the twohour threshold, alongside routine reporting on average and maximum handover times. The twohour threshold represents an important step within a phased approach to reducing handover delays, with the longerterm ambition of achieving the 15minute standard. Under Release to Rescue, patients who are clinically appropriate are transferred from ambulances into a designated Emergency Department care area, enabling ambulance crews to be released back into service more quickly while ensuring ongoing patient care and safety. Performance data before and after implementation of the protocol will be compared, alongside continued monitoring of ambulance response times across the region.

Emergency Department overcrowding and patient flow is assessed using established indicators, including fourhour performance for assessment, treatment and discharge or admission, and the number of patients waiting over 12 hours. These measures are already subject to regular review through Trust, regional and Departmental performance arrangements and will be used to identify any changes associated with the operation of Release to Rescue.

To prevent adverse impacts of the Release to Rescue protocol on Emergency Departments, hospital wards and the use of corridor beds, my Department has worked closely with NIAS and Trusts to support sustained, systemwide actions to improve patient flow, discharge capacity and ambulance handover performance across the unscheduled care system. In advance of winter 2025/26, repurposed funding was allocated to Trusts to support delivery of Unscheduled Care Improvement Plans aligned to the overarching Winter Preparedness Plan, with a specific focus on improving ambulance handover delays. This funding supported additional shortstay and escalation capacity, expansion of Hospital at Home services, enhanced frailty assessment at the front door, and strengthened discharge coordination and community support arrangements.

A range of mitigation measures were implemented during 2025/26 to support system resilience and patient safety. Following the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) report’s recommendations to increase Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) activity and reduce unwarranted variation, an SDEC Task and Finish Group was established to drive regional improvement. SDEC services continue to support same-day assessment and treatment for suitable patients, helping to reduce avoidable admissions.

Performance of ambulance handover delays and Emergency Department standards continues to be overseen through established escalation and assurance arrangements, including the Support and Intervention Framework (SIF) and senior operational review through Strategic Oversight and Monitoring (SOM) processes.

The Department’s Strategic Planning and Performance Group, working in partnership with the encompass Programme, is identifying appropriate reports from the Epic system to support consistent daily reporting of corridor care. This will enable the monitoring of bed availability and use of corridor beds using definitions agreed for Northern Ireland, including the number of patients affected and the length of time spent in nonstandard care areas. These reports will allow the Department to assess any impact that improved ambulance handover performance may have on corridor care across hospitals.