A REVIEW OF the National Ambulance Service says they are only reaching life-threatening cases within targets 26% of the time.
However, the NAS argues that the targets are not achievable.
The HSE today published the report of the National Ambulance Service of Ireland, Emergency Service Baseline and Capacity Review.
Commissioned by the HSE and carried out by Lightfoot Solutions UK, the report found that in 26.6% of all “Echo/Delta” or life-threatening cases, ambulances don’t reach the incident within eight minutes.
While that target is hit 45.6% in minor urban areas, it is hit just 6.6% of the time in rural Ireland.
However, the report’s analysis says that even in the best case scenario, that target is simply not achievable. The HSE argues that successful outcomes, rather than response times, should be the key barometers of success.
Lightfoot’s analysis indicate that Ireland could not possibly achieve the 2011 target of 80% of Echo/Delta calls receiving a first response in eight minutes. Ireland could only achieve an eight minute performance of 60.6%, compared to around 79% for a typical English service because of the immense difficulties with rurality in Ireland.
“International evidence supports a more balanced approach between response times, patient outcomes and patient satisfaction measures.”
Lightfoot found that the Irish ambulance services serve a much greater rural population than their counterparts in England and Scotland.
This presents major challenges for performance when directly compared with same response time standards in the United Kingdom. In Ireland, 40% of incidents are in a rural location compared to 12% in a typical UK service.
It also noted that there are 40% less calls per head of population within Ireland compared with the UK.
According to Mr Martin Dunne, Director of the HSE National Ambulance Service, the review paves a way forward for ambulance services in Ireland.
“This review is the first of its kind to be conducted in Ireland. In comparing our service with those in the UK, Lightfoot have provided us with a clear direction for what needs to be done to enhance our service over the next seven years.
The recommendations, once implemented will improve pre hospital emergency care services for our patients and this in turn will have a positive impact on the wider health services. It has identified a significant need for investment in staff, technology and in community engagement to improve the service.
The report recommends a new model for pre- hospital emergency care services, with patients given increased care choices which in many instances may not require a visit to the Emergency Department. The report has 17 recommendations, which are broken into four areas – improved operational processes, introduction of “dynamic” ambulance deployment, better resources in priority locations and expansion of the first responder scheme.
The report also found that an additional 752 staff are needed by the National Ambulance Service, along with 72 extra ambulances.
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