Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 December 2022
559. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Health the reason that ambulance response times per county or CHO are not deemed a key performance indicator for HIQA, the HSE or the NAS; if consideration is to be given to changing this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61767/22]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, in line with both international best practice and recommendations made in a 2014 review by HIQA into prehospital emergency care services, the NAS does not operate a station-based deployment system, but instead uses “dynamic deployment” on a national basis. Dynamic deployment allows staff in the HSE’s National Emergency Operations Centre to see all available resources and match them with service demand requirements in real time. Using the dynamic deployment model does, however, mean that at particularly busy periods non-serious or non-life-threatening calls will sometimes experience a longer wait for an ambulance.
I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy with any further information they may have in relation to the Deputy's specific questions.
