Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 January 2015
83. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Health his plans for the replacement of the existing system of measuring ambulance response times in view of the findings of the recent report on this issue commissioned by the Health Service Executive, particularly in relation to rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2378/15]
View answerIn its recent report, HIQA acknowledged our geographic challenges and recommended different rural and urban response time targets. I also understand that the draft executive summary of the National Capacity Review, recently circulated to the Joint Committee on Health and Children, suggests that the response time targets recommended by HIQA cannot be met, even with substantially increased resources. However, as that report is not yet finalised, I believe it is premature to make any concrete decisions in relation to response time targets.
It is worth noting that response time targets only measure one aspect of ambulance performance and they should be part of a suite of assessments. Internationally, many services are moving to patient outcomes as a better indicator of performance. The NAS introduced a patient outcome target for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in 2014, and more are being developed.
In relation to rural response time targets, I think it is accepted that these are difficult to achieve for any ambulance service. However, I can assure the Deputy that we are already adapting our ambulance services for the needs of rural populations through, for example, the use of rapid response vehicles. In addition, the Emergency Aeromedical Support Service which has proven to be very successful, will continue to provide rapid access to appropriate treatment for very high acuity patients where this might be difficult to achieve by road. A €5.4m budget increase in 2015 will help address service gaps, particularly in the west, by reforming rostering and staffing additional stations. We will also expand the number of community first response teams, particularly in more rural and sparsely populated areas. The Intermediate Care Service, for non-emergency clinical transport, will continue to free up frontline ambulances, and their highly skilled paramedics and advanced paramedics, for emergency calls.
In addition to the recent HIQA review, the national capacity review and the review of Dublin ambulance services are awaited. These three major reviews of our ambulance service, when taken together, will provide us with very good information which will help drive service improvement. I have therefore asked the HSE to prepare an action plan on completion of the three reports, with timelines to realise a new vision for our ambulance services.
