Questions

1238. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health if she will commit to establishing early access schemes for new medicines for the treatment of rare diseases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37774/26]

1239. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health the status of the Programme for Government commitment and National Rare Disease Strategy recommendation to consider early access schemes for rare diseases; the status of these considerations; the work carried out to date; the timeline she is working towards in completing this work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37775/26]

1240. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Health the position regarding the charging by pharmacists for blister packs given some pharmacists are now charging €5, €10 or €15 for these packs to medical card holders; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37778/26]

1241. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Health if she will urgently provide an update on the HSE's decision regarding the reimbursement of skyclarys for the treatment of Friedreich's ataxia; the timeline for a final decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37786/26]

1242. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Health the total number of missed appointments across the HSE in 2025; the action she is taking to reduce this number; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37818/26]

1243. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health if she is aware that there is currently no occupational therapist covering adult disability services in County Longford; the steps being taken to fill this position; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37828/26]

1244. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Health the number of emergency department presentations, hospital admissions and addiction treatment episodes where nitrous oxide use was recorded as a contributing factor, in each of the past five years, county or HSE region and age group; the number involving persons under 18 years-of-age, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37843/26]

1245. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Health the actions being taken by her Department, the HSE and relevant public health bodies to address nitrous oxide misuse among young people, including in Dublin; whether any targeted public awareness campaigns, harm reduction initiatives, school-based measures or youth-focused interventions are planned or under way; and if she will make a statement on the matter. …

1246. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Ambulance Service maintains any internal target timeframe between receipt of a 999 call and allocation of an ambulance resource, even where such targets are not publicly reported. [37848/26]

1247. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Ambulance Service records the number of incidents in which ambulance allocation exceeds specified time thresholds including 10, 20, 30 and 60 minutes. [37849/26]

1248. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any patient harm reviews, mortality reviews, or clinical governance assessments have identified ambulance allocation or dispatch delays as a contributory factor since 2020. [37850/26]

1249. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any correlation analysis has been conducted between ambulance dispatch timelines and patient outcomes, including cardiac arrest, stroke, trauma or sepsis cases. [37851/26]

1250. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any incidents involving delayed ambulance allocation have been escalated to the HSE Enterprise Risk Register, Serious Incident Management Team, or National Incident Management System since 2020. [37852/26]

1251. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Ambulance Service maintains a central dataset recording the elapsed time between emergency call receipt and ambulance resource allocation for every 999 incident nationally. [37853/26]

1252. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether regional variation data exists comparing ambulance dispatch allocation times across community healthcare organisations or operational regions. [37854/26]

1253. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any independent review has examined whether current ambulance dispatch standards are achievable under existing staffing and fleet levels. [37855/26]

1254. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any ambulance response-time risks, dispatch-delay risks, emergency resource-allocation risks, or ambulance-capacity pressures have been recorded at local, regional, divisional, or operational level within the National Ambulance Service risk-management system since 2020, even where not escalated to the national NAS Risk Register. [37857/26]

1255. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the criteria used by the National Ambulance Service to determine whether ambulance dispatch or response-time risks are escalated onto the NAS Risk Register. [37858/26]

1256. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any proposals, recommendations, or requests to escalate ambulance dispatch or allocation risks onto the NAS Risk Register were considered, rejected, deferred, or removed since 2020. [37859/26]

1257. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any internal reviews have examined discrepancies between ambulance demand pressures and the absence of dispatch-related risks on the NAS Risk Register. [37860/26]

1258. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the percentage compliance achieved by the National Ambulance Service with the EMS Dispatch Standard for Ireland in each year from 2020 to 2026 to date. [37861/26]

1259. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any areas of non-compliance, partial compliance, or repeated performance exceptions have been identified under the EMS Dispatch Standard since 2020. [37862/26]

1260. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any ambulance dispatch-time targets or performance thresholds are routinely missed at national or regional level; and if so, the most frequently affected categories. [37863/26]

1261. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the National Ambulance Service maintains any internal reporting on prolonged dispatch allocation times exceeding specified thresholds. [37864/26]

1262. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE or National Ambulance Service conducts any analysis linking ambulance dispatch timelines or delayed allocation times with patient outcomes including mortality, ICU admission, cardiac events, stroke outcomes, or adverse incidents. [37865/26]