To ask the Minister of Health what further analysis has been undertaken concerning the requirement for an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation machine in Northern Ireland.

Whilst Northern Ireland does not have its own ECMO machine, access is available to ECMO services in Great Britain for patients from Northern Ireland, where clinically appropriate, via air ambulance transfer to England. The total number of patients transferred to England for treatment since January 2020 is eight, five of which were COVID-19 positive.

The reason we do not have an ECMO machine locally is due to the population size in Northern Ireland being too small to sustain a local ECMO service, rather than the availability of resources. The small number of patients requiring such a service each year would make it impossible for a clinical team to maintain the specialist skills required; thus, a safe and effective local service would not be sustainable.