Targets for response times by emergency ambulances have to be set as a matter of urgency, according to a report published yesterday. It found the time it takes for an ambulance to arrive varied greatly in different parts of the country. The report on ambulance service performance by the Comptroller and Auditor General was also critical of the progress in implementing the recommendations of an expert group which reported five year ago.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, said there was an obvious need for improvement. He said he would be urgently addressing the issues dealt with in the value-for-money examination of ambulance services published yesterday.
The report found the fastest response times were in the Eastern Health Board area, where more than 90 per cent of calls were responded to within 20 minutes. However, in the Midlands, North Western and Western Health Boards areas fewer than 60 per cent of emergency calls were responded to within that time.
In the North Western Health Board (NWHB), only one in five calls was responded to within 10 minutes. NWHB personnel pointed out that the population there was widely dispersed and journeys were made over difficult roads.
According to the report, British emergency services are expected to respond to 50 per cent of emergency calls within eight minutes. Only six of the 37 British ambulance services failed to meet performance targets in 1996-97.
The report says these performance targets are not necessarily appropriate or achievable in Ireland. "The relative level of resources invested in the provision of the emergency ambulance services in Ireland is considerably less than in the UK, and population characteristics also differ."
It says current information makes it impossible to evaluate the efficiency of emergency ambulances services. "All emergency ambulance services need to improve the level of management information gathered, particularly information on the operational performance of the services."
Assessing the cost of the ambulance services, the report finds that it costs on average £7.32 per head of population served. This is significantly higher in the NWHB area, which spends £11.29 per head.
Mr Cowen said since the publication of the Ambulance Review Group in 1993, almost £16 million had been invested in improving the service. This year an additional £2 million was provided. Some two-thirds of emergency ambulances were now less than five years old.
He said measures for monitoring and assessing ambulance response times and quality of care were being introduced this year. "Once these are introduced, we will get a more accurate picture of how the services are being operated. The report is a timely focus on particular issues."