Most serious ambulance callouts in Cork and Kerry missed response time targets

Fewer than 20% of life-threatening ambulance calls across Cork and Kerry were answered within the HSE’s target times over the last two years, with last December the worst month for response times.

Under the HSE National Ambulance Service (NAS) system, half of calls are categorised as either “purple” (meaning life-threatening cardiac or respiratory arrest), or “red” (indicating life-threatening illness or injury, other than cardiac arrest).

The NAS’s target is to respond within 19 minutes in 75% of cases for purple calls, and in 45% of cases for red calls.

LATEST

Latest figures provided by the HSE show that in 2023 and 2024, ambulance services in the Cork and Kerry CHO (community health organisation) region only met those targets, in either category, in just four out of the 24 months.

In 2023 and 2024, the south-west’s ambulance service only met its monthly response targets for life-threatening illnesses — across both categories — four times over the 24-month period, meaning only 16.6% of calls were answered within the target time.

In purple category cases, it met target in January and April 2023, and in February and April 2024. In red category cases, it met its target times in February and November 2023, and in February and April 2024.

December 2024, the latest date for which information is available, saw the worst performances over the last two years across both categories, with 37% of red calls answered in under 19 minutes and 63% of purple calls, compared to the targets of 45% and 75%, respectively.

The data was provided to Séamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, in response to a parliamentary question asking for a breakdown of ambulance response times in Cork city and county for 2023 and 2024.

REPORTS

A HSE spokesperson replied that the NAS reports monthly only on purple and red call activity.

The NAS did not provide a breakdown of all calls per month, only offering a table showing the percentage of calls responded to within the target times in each month.

Mr McGrath said the figures were very concerning and clearly show the need for improvement in terms of response times across the board.

“We all know every minute is vital in a life-threatening situation and the HSE need to put a plan in place to address this as a matter of urgency,” said Mr McGrath.

“In many cases, the first to a scene are local volunteer responders and I fully commend their commitment, but the system should not be over-reliant on these volunteers.”