Northern Ireland Ambulance Service

HL Deb 18 February 2003 vol 644 c166WA

Lord Laird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 4 February (WA 29), why response times for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service are different from those in the rest of the United Kingdom; and for how long this position has lasted. [HL 1540]

Lord Williams of Mostyn

Ambulance service response time targets differ in Northern Ireland because NIAS does not currently have an appropriate methodology to support the disaggregation of emergency calls into the categories used by other UK ambulance services. However, NIAS is currently piloting a medical priority despatch system which will allow the adoption of GB targets. Once the pilot is evaluated, NIAS will seek to roll out the system across Northern Ireland as soon as possible.

The requirement for UK ambulance services to meet their current response time targets was introduced by the Department of Health from April 2001.