Expert staff responding to serious incidents and medical emergencies across Northern Ireland have been praised for their dedication and commitment.

Peter May, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health, paid tribute to those working with the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) during visits to the organisations' bases near Lisburn.

In partnership with the charity Air Ambulance NI, HEMS deploys doctors and paramedics to seriously ill and injured patients, while HART is made up of specially trained Paramedic staff who respond to serious incidents across NI.

Peter May said: "I was delighted to visit the HEMS facility at the Maze Long Kesh site and to meet the clinicians, fundraisers and leaders who have been instrumental in the successful operation of this pre-hospital critical care. HEMS greatly benefits people with life-changing injuries, by bringing skilled clinicians to the scene to deliver advanced critical care and rapidly transporting patients directly to the regional trauma centre for ongoing emergency care.

"HART is made up of specially trained staff who can respond to serious incidents on a 24/7 basis, providing day and night coverage. HART Paramedics provide emergency care to patients in hazardous and dangerous areas including train crashes and  significant fires, working alongside the NI Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS). Teams routinely attend some very traumatic incidents along with colleagues in HEMS.

"A year ago, in response to the terrible tragedy in Creeslough, County Donegal, HEMS and HART were dispatched along with NIAS and NIFRS personnel, to provide expert capability on the ground in support of the massive cross-border rescue effort. HART also recently supported the visit by the President of the United States to Northern Ireland."

Michael Bloomfield, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) said: "A year since the tragedy in Creeslough, our thoughts remain with the families of those who lost their lives that day. It is our hope that never again should such an incident occur however, as an emergency service, we need to recruit and train staff to be able to respond with the highest levels of clinical care available, even in the most challenging circumstances.

"NIAS, HART and HEMS teams are equipped with the skills necessary to bring to the frontline these levels of care and expertise, which historically were available primarily in a hospital setting. Their training and their skill, allied with their care and compassion, which helps them to understand the seriousness of the situations to which they respond, is invaluable in the most serious of incidents. It is their ability to work in collaboration with frontline emergency crews and Control which provides the best possible opportunity to secure positive outcomes for patients."

Dr Nigel Ruddell, Medical Director for the HEMS service, said: "Patients who have suffered critical injuries and who require specialist treatment are usually brought directly to the major trauma centre at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Other patients may be transported to local hospitals in line with our regional trauma pathway as agreed by all of the HSC Trusts.

"The use of a helicopter provides two major advantages, with the first being the rapid arrival of a specialist medical team who can deliver advanced clinical interventions before the patient travels. The helicopter may also offer a faster transfer to the receiving hospital, and both of these factors provide a survival benefit for trauma patients.  For the majority of calls, the helicopter delivers the medical team to the scene within 20 minutes. The HEMS service is delivered in partnership with the Air Ambulance Northern Ireland Charity."

Rosie Byrne, Director of Operations with responsibility for HART, said: "HART works in the 'hot-zone' of major incidents alongside other blue light and emergency services. HART's role is to triage and treat casualties, as well as provide resilience to other emergency services personnel who become injured in the course of their duty attending the incident.  Due to the range of incidents that HART could be called to, they have a wide range of specialist equipment available to provide appropriate care.

"HART Paramedics receive specialist training to provide care in areas such as working at height and in confined spaces, water rescue and flood response, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) response, marauding terrorist attack (MTA) response, remote mountain rescue, public order response and High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID)."

In conclusion, the Permanent Secretary said: "I recognise and value the hard work and commitment of both HEMS and HART teams along with the NI Ambulance Service (NIAS)  who, in common with other areas of the health service, are facing increasing demands and challenges to their services.

"My Department continues to provide significant recurrent funding to enable NIAS to cover the medical aspects of HEMS and HART, including staff, training and equipment."