Ambulance Service

Thursday, 26 February 2026

Questions (532, 533, 537, 554, 556, 557)

Ken O'Flynn

Question:

532. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether it is Departmental policy that an ambulance response exceeding 60 minutes to a clinical status 1 purple or red emergency call does not, of itself, constitute a notifiable patient safety incident under the HSE Incident Management Framework; the policy basis for that position; and whether she will review that policy in the context of her statutory responsibility for patient safety and quality governance. [15860/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

533. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has, since 1 January 2023, received any aggregated report, briefing, risk register entry, or governance submission identifying delayed ambulance response as a contributory factor in patient harm or adverse outcomes; the number of such instances recorded; and whether her Department has conducted any formal policy review arising from those findings. [15861/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

537. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has issued any policy guidance defining the circumstances in which prolonged ambulance response times constitute patient safety incidents; whether delays exceeding 60 minutes in life-threatening emergencies are automatically reviewed under the HSE Incident Management Framework; and if not, the governance basis for excluding such delays from mandatory safety review. [15865/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

554. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the current National Ambulance Service key performance Indicator (KPI) framework, including the absence of any maximum response time thresholds for clinical status 1 purple and red calls, has been formally approved, endorsed or noted by her Department; the date on which the current KPI framework was last reviewed by her Department; and whether any review of the scope of those KPIs is currently underway. [15889/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

556. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department of Health Enterprise Risk Management Framework identifies prolonged ambulance response times for life-threatening emergencies as a strategic or operational risk; if so, the risk rating currently assigned; and if not, whether she will require that this risk be formally assessed and recorded. [15891/26]

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Ken O'Flynn

Question:

557. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any internal Departmental briefings, submissions, memoranda or governance reviews since 2020 have considered the question of whether emergency ambulance response times exceeding 60 minutes should be classified or recorded as patient safety incidents; and if so, to outline the conclusions reached. [15892/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Health (Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 532, 533, 537, 554, 555, 556 and 557 together.

I refer the Deputy to the answer I gave to Question 580 on 12 February. Each year, the Health Service Executive's (HSE) National Service Plan (NSP) outlines the overarching goals across all of its operational areas. Within these goals specific draft Key Performance Indicators (KPI) targets are set out, which the HSE then agrees with my Department before the NSP is finalised and published. Outside of the published KPIs the HSE maintains additional data which is used for the ongoing review of operational areas, including National Ambulance Service (NAS) performance and resourcing and such information is presented and considered by my Department including within the margins of the annual estimates process.

As I made clear in my reply to Question 580, there are well established 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. This includes the HSE’s Incident Management Framework which is applied to the management of individual incidents and is also the mechanism for incident reviews in the HSE. As the Deputy will be aware from my earlier answers, the HSE reports into my Department on a monthly basis on its performance against NSP KPIs and the 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 relation to risk, my Department holds a quarterly Risk Management meeting with the HSE to discuss strategic and high-rated risks and the operation of the HSE Risk Register.

Taken together these meetings help to ensure that the Department ensures that top level management in the HSE and the HSE Board are accountable to appropriate high standards in managing the delivery of all healthcare services.

Question No. 533 answered with Question No. 532.