Ambulance Service

Thursday, 12 February 2026

Questions (579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584)

Ken O'Flynn

Question:

579. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether emergency ambulance responses to clinical status 1 purple and red calls where the response time exceeds 60 minutes are classified by her Department or the HSE as patient safety incidents; if so, the number of such incidents recorded in each of the past three years; if not, the clinical and governance rationale for not treating such delays in life-threatening emergencies as patient safety incidents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11387/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

580. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health when she was first informed that response times exceeding 60 minutes for clinical status 1 purple and red emergency calls are not included in published National Ambulance Service performance indicators; whether this issue was raised with her Department by the HSE or the National Ambulance Service; the date on which this occurred; and the actions she has taken since becoming aware of this omission in national oversight. [11388/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

581. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to provide, for each HSE region, the percentage of clinical status 1 purple and red emergency calls responded to within target timeframes in each of the past 12 months; whether her Department has assessed the causes of persistent regional variation in emergency ambulance response performance; and the specific national actions in place to address inequity in emergency response times between regions. [11389/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

582. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health her views on whether the National Ambulance Service performance framework in which 55 percent of clinical status 1 red emergency calls fail to meet response time targets represents an acceptable standard of emergency care; the clinical or policy basis on which the current red call target was set; and whether any review of that target has been undertaken in light of patient safety considerations. [11390/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

583. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the formal escalation, intervention, or corrective measures which are triggered when the National Ambulance Service response time targets for clinical status 1 purple or red emergency calls are not met at national or regional level; whether any such measures were triggered during 2025; and if not, the way in which compliance with emergency response targets is enforced in practice. [11391/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

584. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether median response times for clinical status 1 purple and red emergency calls are collected by the National Ambulance Service; if so, to provide the median response times for each of the past 12 months by HSE region; and if not, the methodological reasons median response times are not used alongside averages in assessing emergency ambulance performance. [11392/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Health (Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill)

I propose to take Questions 579,580,581,582,583, and 584 together.

I refer the Deputy to the answer I gave in response to question number 374 on 5 February 2026.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Health Service Executive's (HSE) National Service Plan (NSP) sets out the type and volume of health and social care services the HSE will provide from the funding it receives in a given year. The NSP also outlines the overarching goals across HSE operational areas and within these goals it sets out specific Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets. In addition to the KPIs and data requirements set out in the NSP, the HSE also has additional data available for ongoing review of operational areas.

As I set out in reply to question 374, the HSE reports into my Department on a monthly basis on its performance against the NSP KPIs. These performance results form the basis of ongoing engagement between my Department and the HSE throughout the year, with certain key performance areas escalated for attention where appropriate with a view toward achieving improvements.

In regard to patient safety, there are well established protocols and procedures in place, under which the HSE informs my Department of all major or significant patient or service user safety incidents and issues of concern across the HSE.

Concerning NAS performance, despite a further 5% increase in patient demand for emergency ambulance services in 2025 NAS national urgent and emergency response performance remained close to achieving its 2025 HSE NSP KPI targets. The outturn for NAS response time performance for PURPLE (cardiac/respiratory emergencies) calls was 71% against an NSP KPI target of 75%, and 44% for RED (all other emergencies) calls, against the 45% KPI target.

Regarding further investment in the NAS, as outlined to the Deputy in response to question 374, the HSE has approved of 263 posts for NAS in 2026 to further strengthen ambulance frontline emergency response capacity, intermediate cares services and alternative care pathways, as well as the establishment of a new Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) serving the West and North-West of the country.

I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy with any further pertinent information it may have in regard to the specific requests raised concerning NAS performance data.

Question No 580 answered with Question No 579.

Question No 581 answered with Question No 579.

Question No 582 answered with Question No 579.

Question No 583 answered with Question No 579.

Question No 584 answered with Question No 579.