The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) Health and Social Care Trust’s vision is to provide excellent quality of care, experience and outcomes for the patients we serve. NIAS is a regional service responding to the needs of a population in Northern Ireland in excess of 1.8 million people in the pre-hospital environment. We provide ambulance care, treatment and transportation services to the people of Northern Ireland twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, and three hundred and sixty five days per year. NIAS covers an operational area of approximately 14,100 sq kilometres, serviced by a fleet of 227 ambulances (Accident & Emergency and Patient Care Service).

NIAS currently employs approximately 1,300 staff across 35 ambulance stations and sub-stations; Emergency Ambulance Control; Non-Emergency Ambulance Control; Headquarters; and a Regional Ambulance Clinical Training Centre (RACTC). NIAS reflects its high quality staff and their commitment to patient care. The quality of service experienced by patients is only achieved through the commitment and competence of our frontline staff, supported by a number of dedicated teams in various roles such as Control, IT, Administration, Information, Communication, Finance, HR, Stores, Fleet, Resourcing, Estate, Education and Training (not exhaustive).

The range of ambulance services provided by NIAS is as follows:

• Emergency response to patients with sudden illness and injury;
• Assessment and referral to Appropriate Care Pathways;
• Urgent & Non-Emergency Patient Care and Transportation;
• Specialised health transport services;
• Collaborative working and planning throughout the HSC network relating to Transformation of care, training and education of ambulance professionals;
• Planning for and co-ordination of major events, mass casualty incidents and disasters;
• Community Paramedic and support for community-based First Responder services;
• Community Education.