Health service data has revealed a near 8% drop in the number of paramedics across Northern Ireland in the space of a year.
There were 399 paramedics employed by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) on March 31 2024.
This is down 33 from 432 on March 31 2023.
An ambulance service spokesperson said the report “does not indicate that we have 33 fewer positions than the year before”.
However, on the day the data was compiled there appeared to be 33 fewer staff in the role compared to the same date a year earlier.
Assembly health committee chair Liz Kimmins said “more of an emphasis must be placed on retention of staff”.
The only other HSC staff group to see more staff leaving than joining was medical and dental.
Total staff employed by the NIAS has been steadily declining from 1,382 in 2022 to 1,251 in 2024.
The figures come from the latest HSC workforce census, released by the Department of Health.
According to an ambulance service spokesperson, there is “no reduction in funded levels of cover or personnel” and that the figures were “a snapshot of a moment of time which does not reflect the position throughout the year”.
A statement from the Trust said, “during the last financial year, 16 paramedics left the ambulance service, 11 of these as a result of retirement and five resignations”.
“The reduction may be accounted for by the timing of the report and may not reflect other factors such as promotion and redeployment within the service, which may have impacted the figures.
“Any reductions experienced as a result will be temporary until the posts can be filled, which could be within a day, week or month of a report being reduced.
The ambulance service also said that promotion as well as redeployments due to health reasons are also factors contributing to the lower figure.
It also added: “45 newly qualified paramedics are due to take up post in the Autumn and the Trust is about to commence rolling recruitments for both qualified and newly qualified paramedics.”
Paramedics have often borne the brunt of delays in patient care in recent times.
Ms Kimmins said there should be a greater focus on staff retention and recruitment.
“Paramedics are a vital part of our health service, carrying out life-saving work around-the-clock,” she said.
“It’s important that the Department of Health and the Ambulance Service have an effective workforce plan in place to ensure the needs of the public across the north are being met, ensuring ambulance services are prepared to respond when needed, including in unforeseen events.”
“More of an emphasis must be placed on recruitment and retention of staff, ensuring workers are properly valued, supported and recognised for the important work they do.”
In April, The Irish News revealed that the average hospital handover wait time was 76 minutes, with the highest time recorded being 16 hours at the Ulster Hospital and according to the NI Audits office, a total of 100,000 ‘on the road’ hours were lost in 2022-23 alone.
The ambulance service has also stated that bank staff, often recently retired paramedics, can be brought in at short notice to plug any gaps in service that may arise and that it “continues to recruit and train as many staff as possible within available resources”.
