Louth TD raises ambulance waiting times in the Dail after the Dundalk Democrat revealed shocking figures

Louth TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has raised ambulance waiting times in the Dail after the Dundalk Democrat revealed the shocking figures for ambulance wait times in Louth last year.

Speaking during a Sinn Fein Private Members Motion regarding the National Ambulance Service, Deputy Ó Murchú stated that the health service was “in crisis.”

He continued:

“Our hospitals are under pressure and our staff who are working in the ambulance service are under severe pressure. We commend the work they do but they need support. We need the capacity in the plan for the Government.

“I thank the Dundalk Democrat for dealing with this issue.”

The Louth TD read out some of the figures revealed by the Democrat in last week's papers detailing how as many as 163 ambulances dispatched to non-cardiac life-threatening emergencies in Louth in 2022, took longer than one hour to get to a patient.

The figures are almost four times the number of calls which took longer than an hour to respond to in 2021.

National Ambulance Service guidelines state that an ambulance should aim to arrive at the scene of an emergency non-cardiac incident within 19 minutes.

The longest wait time for a non-cardiac life threatening incident in Louth in 2022 was four hours and 50 minutes, with ‘Volume of Work’ given as the reason for the lengthy delay. Life threatening calls are split into two categories: Delta/Red (non-cardiac or respiratory arrest life threatening calls) and Echo/purple (life threatening calls relating to cardiac or respiratory arrest). In total, 111 Delta ambulance calls were logged as taking over one hour to arrive at their destination due to the ‘Volume of Work’; 37 were delayed due to ‘Distance Involved.

Overall the Democrat found that 62 people experienced a response time in excess of 60 minutes and less than 75 minutes. 40 experienced a response time in excess of 75 minutes and less than 90 minutes. 17 experienced a response time in excess of 90 minutes and less than 105 minutes. 13 experienced a response time in excess of 105 minutes and less than two hours. 31 experienced a response time in excess of two hours.

Deputy Ó Murchú concluded:

“I will leave it at that. The Minister has gone into some explanation of the improvements that have been made. There would want to be a hell of a lot of improvements to ensure next year's figures are not the same or worse.”

Speaking in response to the Sinn Fein motion Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly commended the work of the NAS and defended their record nationally.

Outlining the latest figures for January he said:

“They are providing new services including access to nurses, doctors and health and social care professionals. Last year the average response time was 25 minutes. In January this year they had that down to 22 minutes.

“Last January, out of 30,000 calls, 35 people waited more than 2 hours. That is 35 people too many, but it has fallen from last January to this January from 35 people to 30 people.

“Last January 114 people waited more than 1 hour. Again, that is too many. However, this year the ambulance services brought that down from 114 people to 81 people. They are absolutely committed to bringing those numbers further and further down.”

The Minister continued:

“The target for echo calls, that is cardiac and respiratory emergency responses, is that 80% of those calls be responded to within 19 minutes. Last year they were at 71%.

“This January they are up to 77%. That is very close to their 80% target. The delta call target, which is the other emergency calls, is that 50% be responded to within 19 minutes. Last year they were at 43%.

“ This January they were up at 48%. As people working in the ambulance service will confirm, January is often the most difficult month of the year.”