Ms Laverne McGuinness:

I failed to answer the Deputy's question because I did not understand what she meant by referring to "ICO" vehicles. I think she is referring to ICVs or intermediate care vehicles. These are the vehicles we have put in place in order to free up ambulances. Intermediate care vehicles, rather than emergency ambulances, are used to transfer patients between hospitals. They are used for transportation purposes and to deal with calls that are not as urgent as delta, echo or other emergency calls. Every month, 3,000 people are transferred between hospitals by intermediate care vehicles. There are 56 of these vehicles at present and 25 of these were bought new in 2012. They have made a significant impact in the context of the improvement in response times.