Background-Equity of access to appropriate pre-hospital emergency care is a
core principle underlying an effective ambulance service. Care must be pro
vided within a timeframe in which it is likely to be effective. A national
census of response times to emergency and urgent calls in statutory ambulan
ce services in Ireland was undertaken to assess current service provision.
Methods-A prospective census of response times to all emergency and urgent
calls was carried out in the nine ambulance services in the country over a
period of one week. The times for call receipt, activation, arrival at and
departure from scene and arrival at hospital were analysed. Crew type, loca
tion of cap and distance from ambulance base were detailed. The type of inc
ident leading to the call was recorded but no further clinical information
was gathered.
Results-2426 emergency calls were received by the services during the week.
Fourteen per cent took five minutes or longer to activate (range 5-33%). T
hirty eight per cent of emergencies received a response within nine minutes
(range 10-47%). Only 4.5% of emergency calls originating greater than five
miles from an ambulance station were responded to within nine minutes (ran
ge 0-10%). Median patient care times for "on call" crews were three times l
onger than "on duty" crews.
Conclusion-Without prioritised use of available resources, inappropriately
delayed responses to critical incidents will continue. Recommendations are
made to improve the effectiveness of emergency medical service utilisation.