Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and the work they are doing in this area. I want to touch on an issue I raised at the previous session on co-ordination between the National Ambulance Service and hospitals. The reply I received was that while the front-line ambulance personnel and their representatives communicate with hospital management it does not appear to be a three-way process as they are not able to communicate with front-line medical people in accident and emergency departments. Surely where ambulances find they are being delayed when they come to hospitals, any discussion should include all of the stakeholders, not only the hospital management but also the ambulance crew, people working in accident and emergency departments and people in the hospital itself.