Mr. Glen Ellis:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the SIPTU branch in Dublin Fire Brigade. One of the key points we would like to get across is that since 1987 for the city of Dublin we have only had an increase of one resource in the ambulance service, having regard to the increase in the population and in housing around the city of Dublin. This was the Swords ambulance service, which was brought into play by Dublin City Council more than three years ago. The population has grown and our number of turnouts has also grown. We have been able to maintain an appropriate dual role, a dual-based EMS system, which is recognised as an appropriate, or even an increased, level of care in the country.

To return to the target response time of 7 minutes 59 seconds, we would ask why these figures have stopped being published. For the city of Dublin, it does not truly reflect the response, as such. I will give an example of what I mean by that. If Dublin Fire Brigade control centre receives an Echo call and a Dublin Fire Brigade engine is resourced to attend this incident and on arrival the fire crew, who are trained paramedics, do not feel an ambulance is required for whatever reason, the ambulance is cancelled and the call is logged as an Echo response. It goes into the statistics, and because no patient-carrying vehicle was required within the 18 minute 59 second target response time, it accrues a negative number on the overall numbers. Similarly, if Dublin Fire Brigade receives a call where a HSE National Ambulance Service ambulance is the patient-carrying vehicle that attends the call, we will have a negative number on time that is published through the HSE time stamps. We have statistics that indicate that, of the calls received from January to December 2011, some 58% were attended by the fire service first, with paramedics on fire trucks in attendance, until the arrival of the vehicle. Again, in respect of 2012, we are led to believe that we are meeting up to 68% of the key performance indicators, KPIs. Under the current KPIs, the target periods of 7 minutes 59 seconds and 18 minutes 59 seconds - on which my colleague, Mr Bell will also speak - are also accepted internationally but along with those figures there have been findings following clinical reviews in the relevant ambulance service. I would point to a report of a review of the West Midlands Ambulance Service in London in 2009 which indicated that if these target figures are to be used, considerable staffing and resources need to be increased to achieve these KPIs. It reverts to the point that no review was carried out to identify if the resources were available to achieve these KPIs.

In regard to the delays, my colleagues and I in Dublin Fire Brigade have faced ongoing delays, including up to today, of anything ranging from three to four hours weekly in certain emergency departments and have experienced delays of 16 hours, 14 hours and ten and a half hours waiting on trolleys to become available. Our colleagues in the nursing service in emergency departments are struggling to produce beds or find areas where our patients can go, which in turn has a knock-on effect on the ambulance service in that a vehicle is not available to attend life threatening emergencies.