Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I will ensure that Deputy Healy's comments are brought to the Minister's attention.

Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive has responsibility for the provision of ambulance services. The HSE has advised that services for the Carrick-on-Suir area are provided from the ambulance base in Waterford with a back-up service provided from the ambulance base in Clonmel. Funding of €650,000 was provided in the HSE Capital Plan 2006 for the upgrade of the ambulance base in Waterford.

As part of the revised organisational framework developed under the HSE, a national ambulance service was established to replace the eight ambulance services that operated under the former health board structure. A key task being undertaken by the HSE's national ambulance office is to review the adequacy of the ambulance service in the context of responses to emergency calls. This process has already commenced and will involve a study of the entire country in the form of a spatial analysis that will be conducted in separate stages in different regions. It is anticipated the study in respect of the south-east area will be completed in the latter half of this year. When the outcome of the study is available, it will be used by the HSE to identify the optimum location for ambulance bases and deployment arrangements to meet the identified demands and minimise response times for emergency calls.

The HSE is reviewing ambulance demands, activity and response times with a view to providing the best service for the people of south County Tipperary and Carrick-on-Suir. Decisions on the future location of ambulance bases for the region will also be informed by the re-organisation of acute hospital services in south Tipperary.

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