Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome, the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, Mr.O'Brien, their colleagues and the Minister of State, Deputy White. The response I received to my first question on the ambulance service, which I heard again in the Dáil this week, does not equate with the reality I know. The NAS is not safe, responsive or fit for purpose. Those are the facts and it is a very widespread view and experience. I do not base my view solely on the recent "Prime Time" programme. It is underscored by a series of information flows recently. I refer to the experiences of and representations made to individual Members of the Oireachtas. I have never referred to it before. I was angry, to put it mildly, about the Minister's retort to me in the Dáil this week. Despite the experience of individual Members he resorted to name-calling and rejectionism without facing the facts.
In January I had a heart attack a quarter of a mile from the local ambulance station, yet the ambulance came from Virginia, County Cavan, more than 40 miles away, to the doctor's surgery where I was waiting to be taken to Cavan General Hospital. There is another ambulance station 15 miles away. The GP and nursing staff in the clinic were incredulous at the delay and it was a continued issue of concern to them. That was not my first such experience. I have been fortunate twice. As a consequence I had further stents inserted the following morning.
I do not question the ambulance personnel, who are the most professional people in carrying out their function. They also make the points I am making today. It is not just me reporting this. They have recently come before this committee and outlined the situation they contend with. It is a very serious matter. They have made detailed submissions to us via their union and membership representations. We have other media investigations and reports, including the series by Kitty Holland in The Irish Times. All this evidence must be recognised as a serious attempt to bring to light real and significant failings within this service. The responses in the Dáil this week do not acknowledge the reality and the deep fears of so many people. I could add further personal experience from my family of a less favourable consequence regarding an ambulance call-out before Christmas, but I will not.
We are not just discussing statistics. We are talking about a situation in which lives have been lost. People believe that had the ambulance arrived within the expected time there would have been a chance that they might have been able to save their loved one. Nobody is foolish enough to say they would have been saved in every situation, but they might have been saved. That is a very serious matter for people to live with and contend with for weeks, months, years and perhaps a lifetime afterwards. I am deeply worried.
Do the Minister and the HSE agree that a figure of only one in every three people with life-threatening conditions being responded to by the ambulance service within the set target time in 2013 is acceptable? Surely those figures must prompt emergency action. Will the Minister undertake a comprehensive capacity review of the ambulance service with a view to enhanced provision across the State? Will he require the HSE to cease the current process whereby it is trying to take over the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service provision, which operates more effectively and with greatly superior adherence to call-out times than the NAS throughout the rest of this jurisdiction? Here in the city of Dublin this is a very serious matter. The people of this city have no faith, only fear, about the prospect of the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance services being subsumed in the HSE and the NAS. There is no confidence in it and it is not a runner when the NAS provision is clearly failing. Will the Minister and Mr. O'Brien establish a national ambulance authority? We need a national ambulance authority outside the remit of the HSE.
My second question is on the shortage or nurses. A study by The Lancetjournal, which included this State, reported that for every patient added to a nurse's workload the chance of dying within a month of surgery increases by a shocking 7%. While that is incredible, it is not disputed. The survey included 420,000 patients. It was not pulled out of the clouds. In January the Irish Emergency Medicine Trainees Association, IEMTA, stated that overcrowding in our hospital emergency departments was unequivocally dangerous for patients. Do the Minister and the HSE accept that with a growing and aging population we cannot sustain safe services with over 5,200 fewer nurses within our service since 2010? Those are the figures. We have 13.5% fewer nursing staff across the services since 2010. Do they accept that there must be a significant recruitment drive to ensure safe staffing in our hospitals? We are training nurses for export. We need them within our own services to ensure the safest possible provision of care.
My last question is on the Minister's reply on the national plan for rare diseases. He stated that his Department's steering group is also considering for its report the development of a national office for rare diseases.

The committee is certain that the establishment of such an office is essential. Will he qualify "also considering" and give us the certainty regarding that intent?