James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Despite the steepest health cutbacks in the history of the State, we are spending more money and attending to more patients and, crucially, more life threatening emergency calls in under 19 minutes than in previous years.

While we are making progress, I acknowledge that we have more work to do. Nobody should wait on the side of the road with a loved one in their hour of need, fearful of whether an ambulance will arrive in time. I am determined to make further progress in order that all our citizens have access to the efficient, modern ambulance service that they deserve, regardless of where they live.

This year, to drive improvements in response times, the national service plan sets a new target of having 80% of life threatening calls responded to within 19 minutes. Last year's target was between 68% and 70%. It should come as no surprise to learn that a target was not in place when the Government took office. To achieve this year's target I am continuing to prioritise ambulance services, despite shrinking budgets. Additional funding of €3.6 million and an additional 43 staff have been provided.

We are also making better use of our ambulance fleet. We are increasing non-emergency vehicles to transport patients between hospitals, thus allowing our ambulances to focus on life threatening emergencies. Last year, 25 intermediate care vehicles were added to the fleet and this year the intermediate care service will take on more work and more staff will join the service. On-call working is also being eliminated to improve response times. This means paramedics no longer respond from their homes during a shift but are based in their vehicles or bases, ready to be dispatched on emergency calls. We are rationalising control rooms in one resilient national system in line with best practice. This process will be completed next year.

I am putting the ambulance service under the spotlight as never before, with three separate reviews under way. The aim of these reviews is clear - to improve our ambulance service. The Health Information and Quality Authority has brought forward a planned review of the national ambulance service, which has now begun. The review will examine how we assess the performance of our service and it is anticipated that it will recommend taking response times and patient outcomes into account. The review will be completed by the end of the year.

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