Mr. Ted Kenny:

The problem with the dispatch system that is there is that it is all based on HIQA standards and response times. That is where the fundamental issue arises for our membership. Senator Conway asked how long it takes for an ambulance to be dispatched. He asked whether I know the average response time. I am sure management, who will be attending the following session of this meeting, will be able to give the committee those times. We have not been furnished with those times and have no access to them. Since the cyberattack, the HSE does not publish those details. The situation is quite clear. Once a call comes in, whatever is the next available resource is dispatched. As the Deputy said, that could well mean an ambulance in Donegal is dispatched to a call in Tipperary.

We have no hope of getting to that scene in any realistic time. It is only done just to keep the figures under HIQA standards on track. I am not sure about the incident the Deputy is talking about and whether the ambulance actually arrived on scene. If it did, I would imagine it would have taken anything up to five hours to get to the scene. Normally the ambulance would be dispatched and if another ambulance became available closer to the scene, the ambulance from County Donegal would be stood down and the other ambulance sent.