Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The ambulance service over the years has always been one where controversy has raised its head on many occasions. I recall being on a health board many years ago and the clapped-out ambulance vehicles in many cases were a source of constant engagement at the meetings.

Since 2011, there has been a major programme of change to reconfigure how pre-hospital emergency care services are managed and delivered. Last year, there were 280,776 calls, 14,000 more than in 2012, which is a significant number. In 2011, there were no targets set for ambulance response times. When the Minister, Deputy Reilly, was in charge he raised the bar for response times. For 2014, a new target has been set for 80% of life-threatening calls to be responded to in under 19 minutes. The 2013 target was for between 68% and 70%. For the first time now hospital turnaround data are being collated on a national basis, which is important. That will allow an assessment of performance in the handover of critically ill patients in the system as a whole, in the response times and in the collection times. That will obviously allow for determination as to how the system can be improved. I accept it is not perfect by any means.

The HSE has acknowledged that at times of high demand with the emergency care system there is clearly a potential for delays in the transfer of patients from ambulance to emergency department and this results in delays in the release of ambulances from emergency departments and reduces the availability of ambulances elsewhere. That is why a national collation system has now been put in place.

There has also been a whole new further set of details on the ambulance emergency department framework. That clarifies the process of clinical handover, establishing where are the lines of responsibility . There is a €5.4 million increase in the ambulance budget for next year, which I think everyone will welcome. There will be 50 replacement ambulances next year, which I think everyone will also welcome. The DELTA and ECHO response times are improving, but the HIQA report recognises that patient outcome is actually more important than response times. The clinical audit will begin next year for the first time.

It is an evolution to a point where national data are now being collated. We have increased investment in the provision of new ambulances and in the collation of the data. Most important of all is the health of the patient.

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