Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly has announced an additional €8 million investment in the National Ambulance Service (NAS) for 2025.
This substantial increase in new development funding, which has a full year cost of €16 million in 2026, will provide:
An additional 180 staff including paramedics and staff for specialist services to support essential frontline services, improve ambulance response times and increase access to care
Expansion of NAS alternative care pathways and further development of NAS specialist service capacity
Additional capacity in the National Emergency Operations Centre to strengthen quality and patient safety and enhance NAS ICT infrastructure
The additional investment is targeted to address capacity requirements for pre-hospital emergency services including a range of specialist services delivered by the NAS. Increased investment will also support the implementation of strategic reforms such as the National Trauma Strategy through the delivery of effective pre-hospital care.
Budget 2025 funding will facilitate the further development of NAS alternative care pathways, to treat more patients at the most appropriate level of clinical need. This will improve patient experience and health outcomes. This will provide for the treatment of a growing number of predominantly older patients in their own home or local community. Currently approximately 1,000 patients per week are being treated through a NAS alternative care pathway, with 40% of these patients not requiring further treatment at a hospital Emergency Department.
The additional funding will enable the NAS to grow capacity in essential specialist services such as the NAS Critical Care Retrieval Service which provides an effective inter-hospital retrieval-transfer system for critically ill patients including infants and children. Additional capacity will also be provided in the National Emergency Operations Centre, to strengthen quality and patient safety to improve service delivery and care for patients.
Minister Donnelly said: “This investment reaffirms the Government’s strong commitment to the development of our National Ambulance Service, with a total of almost €28 million in new development funding provided since 2021.
“For many people in need of emergency care, the NAS is their first contact with our health services, so it is vital that we invest in its development and transformation.
“Funding in 2025 will support the continued strategic reform of the NAS from a traditional emergency ambulance service to an agile emergency medical service, delivering urgent and emergency care to patients at the most appropriate level of clinical need. It will also support the implementation of the National Trauma Strategy, developing pre-hospital acute care services that will ultimately lead to better outcomes for patients.”
CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster said: “The National Ambulance Service is proud to be at the forefront of providing life-saving care across Ireland, responding to almost 400,000 emergency calls each year. I welcome this additional investment in the NAS that supports the continuing transformation of its service to patients. This funding will support the ongoing implementation of the NAS Organisational Re-Design Programme to ensure that the NAS can deliver the safest, most effective care for patients in the most appropriate setting for their needs.”
National Ambulance Service Clinical Director Professor, Cathal O’Donnell said: “This additional funding for the NAS in 2025 will continue efforts to improve national access to definitive care and transform the delivery of urgent and emergency care. Increased investment will also support the broadening of patient pathways to facilitate patients being treated at the lowest level of clinical need, resulting in improved outcomes for patients.”
NAS emergency call volume to date this year are already up 11% from the record number of calls received during the same period in 2023. Despite increases in demand for pre-hospital emergency services, NAS emergency response time performance nationally has improved when compared to the previous year, showing the impact of continued Government investment in the NAS.