Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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545. To ask the Minister for Health when the investigation into the ambulance service in counties Louth and Meath area will be concluded. [11964/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the Deputy is referring to the HIQA review of pre-hospital emergency care. The Authority will review the governance arrangements of pre-hospital emergency care services to ensure the timely assessment, diagnosis, initial management and transport of an acutely ill patient to an appropriate healthcare facility, but may not necessarily focus on any particular geographic area or any specific incident. Planning for the review has now commenced and HIQA is currently in the process of designing an assessment framework against the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare. The Authority will report on the findings and issue recommendations as soon as the review is completed. In addition to the HIQA review of governance, the National Ambulance Service will undertake a capacity review, to determine current and future service delivery needs. This process will examine a number of areas, including staff numbers and skill mix, as well as resource distribution.