538. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the approved whole-time equivalent staffing target for the National Ambulance Service for each year 2023 to 2026 under the NAS Workforce Plan; the actual WTE achieved in each year; the variance between target and actual; and the measures being taken to close the current capacity deficit (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15866/26]
Parliamentary questions
Questions
TDs ask ministers questions to get answers on the record, most of them in writing. Here is every one asked in the 34th Dáil, by the department it went to and the subject heading it was filed under. How questions work
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27,342 questions match, newest first.
539. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department conducts formal comparative analysis of ambulance response performance between HSE regions; whether any equity standard exists to ensure consistent life-threatening emergency response across regions; and the corrective mechanisms triggered where sustained regional underperformance is identified. [15867/26]
540. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health how long the National Ambulance Service has operated above NASCAP Level 1 since 2022; the total number of days spent at Levels 2 and 3 in each of the past three years; and whether the Department considers a prolonged state of escalation compatible with stable emergency service governance. [15868/26]
541. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether a national policy exists within the National Ambulance Service requiring that a life-threatening emergency call be allocated to the next available ambulance within a fixed time window, including a 90-second allocation protocol; when this policy was introduced; the clinical or operational rationale underpinning it; and whether she has reviewed its impact on…
542. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of occasions in each of the past three years where an ambulance assigned to a life-threatening emergency call was dispatched from outside the county in which the incident occurred; the average travel distance and time in such cases; and whether her Department has assessed the impact of long-distance dispatch on local ambulance availability. [15872/26]
543. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of instances in each of the past three years where an ambulance dispatched to a life-threatening emergency call travelled more than 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes before being stood down due to reassignment; whether such redeployments are reviewed for resource efficiency and patient safety impact; and whether national guidelines exist governing m…
544. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department or HSE has undertaken any cost-benefit or efficiency analysis of the current national dispatch model, including fuel expenditure, crew time utilisation, overtime costs, and opportunity cost arising from cross-regional dispatch and stand-down; and if so, to provide details. [15878/26]
545. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any formal clinical risk assessment has been conducted in relation to the National Ambulance Service dispatch model where units are assigned across regions under a time-based allocation protocol; whether this model has been benchmarked against alternative international dispatch systems; and whether any review is planned. [15875/26]
546. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department monitors instances where rural or peripheral areas are temporarily left without local ambulance cover due to cross-regional dispatch under national allocation protocols; the frequency of such occurrences in the past three years; and the safeguards in place to mitigate exposure risk in those areas. [15876/26]
547. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the 90-second allocation protocol forms part of the HSE Enterprise Risk Register; whether it has been subject to independent audit or review since 2020; and whether she is satisfied that the current dispatch framework balances speed of allocation with geographic efficiency and sustained regional capacity. [15877/26]
548. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 315 of 11 February 2025, and noting that the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics completed a full health technology assessment of tirzepatide for the treatment of adults with insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus on 9 February 2026, and for weight management on 3 December 2025, whether she has been notified of t…
549. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department or the HSE has prepared or received any gross and net budget impact analysis in respect of the proposed reimbursement of tirzepatide and semaglutide for diabetes and weight management indications; the estimated annual gross cost to the Exchequer in each of the first five years of potential reimbursement; any estimated downstream cost offsets…
550. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the estimated number of adults nationally who meet the clinical eligibility thresholds outlined in the completed HTAs for tirzepatide for diabetes and weight management indications; the estimated number of adolescents who would meet the subpopulation criteria proposed for semaglutide reimbursement; whether her Department has been advised of projected uptake rates;…
551. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has undertaken any comparative assessment of the timeframe from marketing authorisation to reimbursement decision for GLP-1 receptor agonists in Ireland relative to other EU Member States; whether she considers the current pharmacoeconomic assessment and negotiation timeline proportionate to the scale of the public health burden posed by obe…
552. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether formal commercial negotiations between the HSE Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit and the relevant marketing authorisation holders in respect of tirzepatide and semaglutide are currently active; whether any price proposal has been received following completion of the HTA processes; whether any budget ceiling or access cap has been set as a matter of Departmenta…
553. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has approved, directed, agreed to, or otherwise authorised any performance reporting methodology under the Health Service Executive National Service Plan whereby clinical status 1 purple or red emergency ambulance calls with response times exceeding 60 minutes are excluded, truncated, capped, or otherwise omitted from published National Ambu…
554. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the current National Ambulance Service key performance Indicator (KPI) framework, including the absence of any maximum response time thresholds for clinical status 1 purple and red calls, has been formally approved, endorsed or noted by her Department; the date on which the current KPI framework was last reviewed by her Department; and whether any review o…
556. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department of Health Enterprise Risk Management Framework identifies prolonged ambulance response times for life-threatening emergencies as a strategic or operational risk; if so, the risk rating currently assigned; and if not, whether she will require that this risk be formally assessed and recorded. [15891/26]
557. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any internal Departmental briefings, submissions, memoranda or governance reviews since 2020 have considered the question of whether emergency ambulance response times exceeding 60 minutes should be classified or recorded as patient safety incidents; and if so, to outline the conclusions reached. [15892/26]
558. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of occasions in 2025 on which the National Ambulance Service operated at NASCAP level 3; the duration in days of each such period; whether any escalation to level 4 was considered; and the formal reporting mechanism by which such escalation levels are notified to her Department. [15893/26]
559. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has undertaken or commissioned any comparative review of international ambulance service performance governance frameworks, including the use of outlier response time reporting, since 2018; and if so, to provide the title and date of such review and the principal findings. [15894/26]
560. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 1121 of 7 February 2026,to provide a detailed implementation schedule for each recommendation contained in the Emerging Health Threats Steering Group (ESG) Report published in October 2024, including for each recommendation; the decision taken by her Department; the approving authority, the decision date; the accountable divis…
561. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 1121 of 7 February 2026, to list all funding approvals issued by her Department arising from the ESG Report since October 2024, including for each approval; the programme title; vote and subhead; amount approved for each financial year; whether the funding is current or capital, the approval date, and the body receiving the fu…
562. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the governance and reporting arrangements to Government in respect of the Health Threats Advisory Committee established in 2025, including its terms of reference, reporting frequency, the senior official accountable within her Department, and the dates of meetings held to date. [15897/26]
563. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the governance, statutory or administrative basis, and reporting structure of the cross-departmental One Health Oversight Committee established in 2025, including the Departments formally represented and the number of meetings held to date. [15898/26]