Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that Deputy McConalogue finished on the note he did because any of us who have been in receipt of the services that ambulance crews provide know that they are an exceptional group of people, both men and women.

I thank Deputies Adams and McConalogue for raising these issues today. At the outset I express my sympathies to the families involved.

Regarding the response of the national ambulance service to the incident raised by Deputy Adams, the national ambulance service has reviewed the incident and has confirmed that at the time of the call, there was high call activity in the area. However, the national ambulance service is satisfied that the call was appropriately prioritised, using the advanced medical priority dispatch system, and that the closest available ambulance was tasked.

Regarding the incident raised by Deputy McConalogue, the national ambulance service is satisfied that the call was triaged correctly and that the nearest available resource was dispatched. However, the national ambulance service has now established an escalation process with Letterkenny General Hospital to ensure that ambulance control at Ballyshannon is informed early of any capacity or other challenges which might affect ambulance service delivery. This process will ensure that where necessary, national ambulance service resources are diverted to other appropriate destinations to minimise impact on patients, the national ambulance service and the hospital.

In the interest of respecting the dignity and grief of the families concerned, of which both Deputies are conscious, I will make no further comment on these two incidents.

I draw the attention of the House to the very significant reform programme which is under way to reconfigure pre-hospital care services in Ireland. This reform programme will ensure a clinically driven, nationally co-ordinated system, supported by improved technology. Development funding of €3.6 million and 43 additional staff have been provided in the national service plan 2014.

A key measure in this programme is the national control centre reconfiguration project. The national ambulance service has operated in eight ambulance regions, with no interconnection of radio and computer systems. While this seems incredible, it is a fact. This has delayed improvements in emergency response times, particularly at regional boundaries where the nearest ambulance may be in the neighbouring region.

The control centre project is moving to one national centre on two sites, with significant investment in new voice, data and mapping technologies. This will allow the national ambulance service to deploy emergency resources more effectively and efficiently, regionally and nationally, rather than within small geographic areas. The national centre will be located in Tallaght and Ballyshannon, with the project expected to be completed next year.

In co-operation with staff, the national ambulance service is successfully moving from on-call rostering, where staff are off-site waiting to be summoned, to on-duty rostering, where paramedic crews are in their stations or vehicles during shifts. This leads to faster deployment as the crew is in position to respond immediately to calls, rather than the average on-call deployment of over 20 minutes. The on-duty system is now in place across most of the State.

A key performance issue has been the use of emergency ambulances for routine inter-hospital patient transfers. The national ambulance service is developing dedicated non-emergency patient transport, through the intermediate care service, for routine transfers. This frees up emergency resources for emergency tasks, improving response times and performance.

The national ambulance service will continue to modernise and reconfigure its services to ensure emergency pre-hospital care is delivered in an appropriate and timely manner.

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