Ms Laverne McGuinness:

The recent investment programme addresses the most immediate staffing and service infrastructural deficits. There is a recognition that future investments in services should be supported by an appropriate strategy which will ensure services delivered will be in line with best international practice and meet demand in a safe, efficient and effective manner using the most appropriate care models. In this regard, a number of important reviews were commissioned and are under way. They include: a national capacity review, the purpose of which is to independently determine the resource requirements and optimal deployment of the resources to meet the needs of a modern ambulance service and assist in the delivery of the target response times; a joint review of the provision of emergency ambulance services in Dublin city and county in order to determine the optimal model of ambulance provision which ensures patients receive the highest standard of emergency response and where the care provided meets all national safety and quality standards; a review of the national ambulance service's management capacity and governance, which will support the continued delivery of the key priority projects under way as part of the transformation programme; and an independent review of the national ambulance service fleet.

A number of goals were achieved under the 2012-14 reform programme. The migration to a single national control centre, coupled with a new computer system and digital radio, will bring transformational improvements in the delivery of the service. This key project will deliver a single, state-of-the-art national emergency control centre for Ireland across two sites at Tallaght, the main or hub site, and Ballyshannon, the resilience or back-up site. The project involves the centralisation of multiple small control centre sites from 11 sites to two. It also requires a change in the model of working where the role of an emergency medical controller is being replaced with a new model of operation whereby there are separate call taker, dispatcher and supervisor roles. Seven control room centres have migrated to date and there are currently four command and control centres in operation, namely, Townsend Street, Wexford, Tullamore and Ballyshannon. The move from Townsend Street to the new state-of-the-art facility in Tallaght will take place by the end of January 2015. In addition, the entire information system, including call answering and dispatch, is being replaced. A computer-assisted dispatch system will be implemented fully in 2015. The national ambulance service has also introduced a national digital radio communications system. These key projects will significantly enhance the service's ability to dynamically deploy ambulance resources and improve response times.

On ambulance response times, there was an increase of approximately 10% in all emergency calls - close to 1,000 per month - between January and December 2013. In September 2014 the national ambulance service responded to 24,018 emergency and urgent calls, bringing the total number of emergency calls this year to 217,144. This represents a further increase of 3.8% over the same period in 2013. The target set for 2014 in respect of ECHO and DELTA incidents was that 80% of calls should be responded to by a patient-carrying vehicle in 18 minutes and 59 seconds or less. National performance at September 2014 was 78.5% for ECHO calls and 69% for DELTA calls. The corresponding performance figures for 2013 were 65.7% and 63.4%, respectively. Members will note the improvement in the figures for 2014 over those for 2013. This improvement has been supported by a number of factors, including investment in new technology and intermediate care vehicles which now facilitate 75% or approximately 3,000 of all inter-hospital transfers of patients.