Background: The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is at the forefront of Ireland's response to the COVID-19 pandemic As directed in Ireland's National Action Plan, NAS significantly expanded prehospital services, including provision of a novel COVID-19 testing service Additionally, other health services rely on NAS's capacity to assess, transport and/or treat COVID-19 patients In a climate of innovation and adaptation, NAS needs to learn from international ambulance services and share experience Evaluation of the NAS response to COVID-19 is required to facilitate evidence-based planning for subsequent waves or future pandemics, and to identify innovative practice for mainstreaming into routine service provision Aims: This project aims to test the utility of novel information networks and develop a tool that is tailored to evaluating pandemic-imposed change in an emergency medical service

Methods: The first aim will be to introduce and measure the impact of ambulance-specific research and information updates for NAS Secondly, the usefulness to members of an international network of senior ambulance and research personnel ('AMBULANCE+COVID19' network), and the clarity and feasibility of a short-survey instrument, the Emergency Medical Services Five Question Survey (EMS-5QS), will be assessed Finally, an evaluation framework for assessing pandemic-imposed change will be developed to enable NAS determine innovations: (1) for reactivation in another wave or new pandemic; (2) to be sustained as part of routine service The framework will be developed in collaboration with NAS and the National Quality Improvement Team The Research Team includes expertise from academia, ambulance services and the National Public Health Emergency Team