Ambulance response times decline despite fewer emergency calls

The worst performing area this year for purple calls were the HSE Mid-West region, covering Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary, where just 59% of call-outs were responded to by the target time in February. File Picture: Chani Anderson

Ambulance response times worsened during the first three months of the year despite a significant fall in the number of emergency calls, new HSE figures show.

Emergency ambulance calls fell from 108,915 in the first quarter of 2025 to 94,122 in the first quarter of 2026, a reduction of 13.6%, according to HSE data. However, performance against key response-time targets also worsened.

Under the National Ambulance Service's (NAS) classification system, the most serious incidents are categorised as 'purple' calls, involving cardiac or respiratory arrest, while 'red' calls relate to other life-threatening illnesses or injuries.

The NAS aims to reach 75% of purple calls within 19 minutes and 45% of red calls within the same timeframe.

HSE data shows the proportion of purple calls reached within 19 minutes fell from 72.4% to 68.1%, while performance for red calls fell from 45.9% to 40.9%.

The figures were provided to Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane by the HSE, which said that “recruitment efforts continue to be surpassed by service demand".

“It will take several years of sustained consistent investment to reduce the widening gap between rapidly rising demand and the capacity available to respond to that demand.” 

Nationally, just four targets were met across the six health regions in the first quarter of the year.

Average response times for purple and red callouts increased from 24 minutes during the first quarter of 2025 to 25 minutes during the same period this year. In both the South West and West and North West regions, average response times rose from 24 minutes to 26 minutes.

Purple calls were reached within the 19-minute target in 68% of cases in January, February, and March this year, below the NAS target of 75%. Red calls met the 19-minute target in 38% of cases in January and 42% in both February and March, against a target of 45%.

Last year, by comparison, purple calls met the target in 73% of cases in January and February and 72% in March, while red calls achieved the goal in 43% of callouts in January, 47% in February, and 45% in March.

The worst performing area this year for purple calls were the HSE Mid-West region, covering Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary, where just 59% of call-outs were responded to by the target time in February.

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HSE South West, covering Cork and Kerry, had the worst performance for red calls, with just 36% reached within 19 minutes in January.

Cork Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire told the Irish Examiner: “Our ambulance personnel are doing their absolute best, but they are being let down by the National Ambulance Service.

“When they took industrial action earlier this year, one of their main concerns was the fact that they were not getting the support they needed to respond adequately to call-outs.

“They have repeatedly raised concerns about excessive overtime, burnout, late finishes, career structures and the failure to properly recognise their growing clinical responsibilities.

“The proof of this, is the fact that even though call volumes fell, response times actually still got worse.” 

Mr Ó Laoghaire said that according to the NAS workforce, they need 4,780 posts in 2026, but only 2,920 have been approved and funded.

“Behind each set of numbers is a person in a crisis situation, maybe having a heart attack, a stroke, after a crash, an emergency — every minute counts for such people and for their families.”