SUSPECTED stroke and heart attack patients could experience delays for 999 ambulances due to Covid-related staff absences, the service's medical director has warned.
Dr Nigel Ruddell confirmed that 200 employees are off as a result of the virus - equating to one in five of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) workforce - while a further 100 had taken separate sick leave.
In a social media post on Thursday, NIAS said it was tackling unprecedented pressures due to severe staff shortages and that "even the most urgent calls" could face delays.
Increased attendances at hospital A&E departments are also impacting on ambulance turnaround times.
As the number of Omicron cases is expected to peak in coming weeks, NIAS has appealed to people to try to make their own way to hospital if possible.
Dr Ruddell stressed however that those with life threatening illnesses should ring for an ambulance.
"We are prioritising as best we can," he told BBC Radio Foyle.
"We prioritise all calls and will always do our absolute best to get an emergency ambulance response out to those most critical calls, those immediately life threatening calls, but we are seeing patients who are presenting with symptoms of potential stroke for example who are waiting one, sometimes two hours for an ambulance to arrive," he said.
Dr Ruddell said anyone forced to wait too long for an ambulance "faces increased risk".
He said there were now serious concerns that "there will be a time when we simply do not have an ambulance to send to the next emergency call that arises in the community".
"There are some occasions where it may be quicker, and I personally had to do this yesterday, to advise a patient to be transported by their family because they will arrive at hospital and hopefully start their treatment quicker than we would have an ambulance arrive at their house," Dr Ruddell added.
"We have to make a very fine-balanced judgement call, is it safe for somebody to travel in a car, can they physically be got into a car and be transported safely by relatives?
"We are balancing that against those cases where it is important they start getting definitive care."
Meanwhile, new figures released yesterday show the number of NHS hospital staff absences linked to Covid have nearly quadrupled in London since the beginning of December.
A total of 4,580 NHS staff at hospital trusts in London were ill with coronavirus or having to self-isolate on St Stephen's Day, up 18 per cent on the previous week and nearly four times the 1,174 at the start of the month.
The figures from NHS England also show that the number reached as high as 5,994 on December 23, but fell over Christmas Eve and following days.
Data on health trust Covid-related absences in Northern Ireland is not published.
