Mr. Peter Ray:

If I could be helpful on that subject matter, there are three elements to be mentioned. Mr. Kenny spoke of a hospital liaison officer. In other jurisdictions that development has worked very well. The hospital liaison officer is on the bed management teams in hospitals and, therefore, is intricately involved and has an understanding both from the ambulance perspective and the hospital perspective. It is a good bridging mechanism between the ambulance service and the hospital. In addition, with control centres, other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland, have a dedicated bed availability desk where they can see the availability across all hospitals they serve. That is another helpful element.

A third element is an expansion of the intermediate care vehicle, ICV, service. The more patients moved from hospital back to tertiary treatment - a lower level hospital or nursing home - following treatment, the better. We need an expansion of the ICV service to come under the remit of the National Ambulance Service. That service is somewhat lacking. It is a matter of attracting people into that service with the proper pay rates. Those are the solutions.