Over 80 life-threatening calls in Louth faced ambulance delays of over an hour

As many as 85 ambulances dispatched to non-cardiac life-threatening emergencies in Louth in 2024, took longer than one hour to get to a patient, new figures have revealed.

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

However, 85 patients were forced to wait longer than an hour for an ambulance to arrive last year, according to information released to the Dundalk Democrat under the Freedom of Information Act.

The longest wait time for a non-cardiac life-threatening incident in Louth in 2024 was two hours 50 minutes.

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).

Overall, the figures for Louth show:
* 46 people experienced a response time in excess of 60 minutes and less than 75 minutes.
* 19 experienced a response time in excess of 75 minutes and less than 90 minutes.
* Six experienced a response time in excess of 90 minutes and less than 105 minutes.
* Five experienced a response time in excess of 105 minutes and less than two hours.
* Nine experienced a response time in excess of two hours.

Nationally, 75% of Echo, life-threatening cardiac or respiratory arrest calls were answered within the target of 18 mins 59 secs in 2024.

Meanwhile 45% of Red, Delta, life-threatening illness or injury, other than cardiac or respiratory arrest calls were answered within the target of 18 mins 59 secs.

All Echo calls (life threatening calls relating to cardiac or respiratory arrest) in Louth last year were responded to within an hour.

The Democrat also requested reasons for the delays in each case but was told that no record exists which outlines the reason for delays on these calls as the system does not capture this information when generating the report.

The Freedom of Information report detailing the Louth numbers also notes that:

“There is a very important caveat to bear in mind with this report:

“The CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch) record for each call contains the final acuity of the call and will not indicate where a call was initially triaged as a low acuity.

“Therefore many of the records here will contain calls that were triaged as a low acuity, but which ultimately progressed to a Category 1 call as time went on.”

Asked to comment on the above figures and what is being done to reduce response times, the HSE released a statement to the Democrat stating:

“The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is one of the State’s Principal Emergency Services serving the population of Ireland and plays a critical role in Ireland’s healthcare system.

“Demand via the 999 service has increased by 25% since 2019, with the NAS responding to approximately 430,000 emergency calls in 2024, a notable increase from 390,000 in 2023.

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“Despite this increase, the NAS continues to show improvements in terms of response time key performance indicators in the HSE National Service Plan.

“In the context of increased demand, the HSE, working with Department of Health are expanding the service with over 2,400 staff employed by NAS, an increase of over 400 people from December 2019.

“Significant recruitment efforts are underway through student paramedic training programs at the National Ambulance Service College.

“This will ensure a sustainable workforce capable of delivering high-quality emergency care across the country.”