Mr. Robert Morton:

If we look at how the performance of the service is at present, in Mr. Woods's opening statement, he touched on delta and echo calls as those that have response time standards. The standard response time is approximately 19 minutes. In 2021, the average response time for delta and echo calls throughout the country, but specifically delta calls, which make up the vast majority of calls, is 25 minutes in the south of the country, 22 minutes in the west, and 21 minutes in the east. Those are average times. In some cases, we respond much faster than the actual standard time and there are exceptional cases where we are very slow to get to patients. Sometimes, it takes us up to two hours to get to a life threatening, but not cardiac, call.

The average time is 21 to 25 minutes. If one was to extrapolate from that there is a degree of risk, the answer is "Yes" but broadly speaking, we would say our services are very safe. We deliver a high quality of care and measure the effectiveness and safety of the service through our quality and safety committee. I will ask my colleague, Professor O'Donnell, to touch on how we-----