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Regional Emergency Social Work Service

What the service does
How to access the service
Referral criteria


What the service does

The Regional Emergency Social Work Service (RESWS) covers all of Northern Ireland. It provides social workers at the following times:

  • between 5pm and 9am, Monday to Friday
  • weekends (24 hours)
  • public and bank holidays (24 hours)

Please note this is an emergency service that should only be used when you need a social worker urgently.

The Regional Emergency Social Work Service helps the following people:

  • children and young people
  • older people
  • people with mental health problems
  • people with learning difficulties
  • people with physical disabilities
  • families and carers of all these groups

The Regional Emergency Social Work Service also works with:

  • the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) to address emergency homelessness
  • the Social Security Agency on emergency financial issues

How to access the service

The contact number for the Regional Emergency Social Work Service is: 0800 197 9995

Healthcare professionals can also use this number or email alerts to: resws1@belfasttrust.hscni.net

Referral criteria

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