Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 618: To ask the Minister for Health the number of ambulance bases here; the number of 24/7 bases; the bases that are achieving Health Information and Quality Authority targets for responses to category one calls; the bases that are achieving HIQA response targets for first responders; the bases that are achieving HIQA response targets for transporting ambulances; the specific steps that are being taken to achieve HIQA targets here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21938/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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There are 94 ambulance bases in the State and 91 operate on a 24-hour basis. Of these bases, 30 have varying degrees of dependency on on-call duty after hours - where ambulance staff are available but not on the premises - rather than rostered duty, where staff are on site. The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is working to reduce the dependency on on-call arrangements.

The HSE National Service Plan 2011 provides for publication of HIQA response times data for the first six months of 2011, at the first quarterly reporting date of September 2011. This information is being collected and must go through the HSE's testing and validation process prior to being available for publication. Response time data is collated on a regional basis only and will not be available on a station by station basis.

In order to achieve the HIQA targets, the NAS has developed a Performance Improvement Action Plan, focused on achieving an improvement in response time performance. It is expected that the move from on-call to rostered after hours arrangements, where feasible, will be a significant factor in any such improvements.