Robin Swann, the North Antrim Ulster Unionist Assembly Member and former Health Minister, was present at the launch of Northern Ireland’s first bespoke children’s ambulance, and has congratulated the Children’s Heartbeat Trust which provided over £125,000 through its fundraising activities.
Speaking at the launch, Assembly Member Swann said:
“This amazing project was delivered by a working together partnership of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, Northern Ireland Specialist Transport and Retrieval (NISTAR) and Children’s Heartbeat Trust.
“By engaging with families and the young people themselves, they have been able to design and deliver an ambulance that will remove some of the stress and anxiety that the children and their families go through during these transfers.”
Mr Swann was speaking himself as a parent of a young child who was born with congenital heart disease and has had to travel to Birmingham in the past.
He added: “This ambulance is the next development in the evolution of the All-Island Paediatric Cardiac Network, which now sees the majority of children born with congenital heart disease treated closer to home.”
In Northern Ireland, around 200 children are born with congenital heart disease every year, which often means frequent trips to Dublin and beyond to receive specialist medical treatment including surgery.
According to statistics from NISTAR, 123 trips were made to or from Dublin for children needing cardiac treatment or surgery in the last 12 months – 87 per cent of these were made by children under the age of one, with the remaining journeys made by children and young people aged between one and 16-years-old.
Following a hugely successful ‘Mile A Day’ fundraising campaign in 2021 in which over £133,000 was raised by the public for the Children’s Heartbeat Trust, the £126,466 bespoke ambulance was commissioned by the charity and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, with support from the Northern Ireland Specialist Transport and Retrieval (NISTAR) service.