Ambulances Took Over An Hour To Respond To 6,200 Urgent Cases

Wednesday, 22 February 2023 09:47

By Caoimhe Harney

The longest was almost 7 hours and 10 minutes to a call in Waterford

It took over four hours for an ambulance to arrive at a life-threatening emergency call, 94 times last year.

According to freedom of information figures, 21 were over five hours.

The HSE aims to respond to life-threatening heart and respiratory calls within 18 minutes and 59 seconds in 80 per cent of cases.

Other life-threatening emergencies should be responded to within the same timeframe in 50% of cases.

On almost 6,200 occasions last year, it took over an hour for an ambulance to respond to either of these types of calls.

The longest was almost 7 hours and 10 minutes to a call in Waterford.

That was followed by over 6 hours to calls in Cork and Westmeath.

A total of 233 response times were over 3 hours.

The Oireachtas health committee will discuss ambulance services, including response times, with the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade this morning.

David Hall is the chief executive of Lifeline Ambulance Service:

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