Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman has correctly noted that we will see an increased investment in the National Ambulance Service in 2017, which is welcome. The first report I received when I became Minister for Health was produced by Lightfoot Solutions UK on the National Ambulance Service. In reading the report which was published on my Department's website I was struck by the huge need for extra ambulances and additional paramedics. However, it is also clear from the report that even when we do this, if we wish to meet HIQA's ambulance response times, there will still be a need to provide the National Ambulance Service with extra ambulances and paramedics because of the demographic layout of the country and the way the population is dispersed. The report specifically referenced the role of community first responders. I am very eager to look at how we can further integrate and develop the community first responder network with the National Ambulance Service. Community first responders are providing a very good service around the country, but there is a lot more to be done. It is fair to say the National Ambulance Service has undertaken a significant reform programme in recent years that involves reconfiguring the delivery of pre-hospital care services. The objective is to have a nationally co-ordinated system supported by improved technology. This has seen the completion of the single national control centre project and all nine regional control centres migrate to a national emergency operations centre which I have had the opportunity to visit. Improvements in services in the west have been implemented, with the ambulance bases in Tuam and Mulranny now operating on a 24/7 basis and the establishment of a deployment point in Loughglynn, County Roscommon. We have seen an expansion of the community first responders scheme, with 147 groups now operating nationally. I genuinely thank them and their volunteers for their incredible dedication.

The development of an electronic patient care record is under way and that will be rolled out in 2017. On the point the Deputy made about inter-hospital transfers and making sure we free up our ambulances, our intermediate care service is now carrying out 90% of inter-hospital transfers. The National Ambulance Service, NAS, now supports neonatal and paediatrics retrieval services through the provision of dedicated resources and staff, and there is the development of an adult retrieval service. The emergency aeromedical support service has been established on a permanent basis.

It is important to say that in 2016 the number of ECHO calls received by the National Ambulance Service increased by 42% and DELTA calls increased by 19%. There has been a significant increase in investment in our ambulance services, but that is appropriate considering the pressure it has been under in recent years. The next steps are to continue the reform of the ambulance service through the modernisation programme, to implement a clinical hub desk in the national emergency operations centre, to further develop the intermediate care service, and to roll out the electronic patient care record system. As the Deputy said, the budget for the ambulance service has increased this year. Approximately €1 million of that increase is for new developments above and beyond dealing with capacity and demographic pressures. This will obviously include a number of targets in respect of intermediate care service or emergency response times as well.