Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A significant and ongoing reform programme has been under way in recent years in the National Ambulance Service and considerable advances have been made in 2015. In particular, the opening of the new national emergency operations centre in Tallaght and the establishment of the single national control system, which is now fully operational, will help to achieve improvements in ambulance control and dispatch performance throughout the country.

In recent years, the National Ambulance Service has changed and modernised its model of service delivery. It is no longer considered appropriate for an ambulance station to provide services only in its own local area. For this reason the ambulance service is moving to dynamic deployment where all resources in a region are deployed across that region as a single fleet in response to demand.

Among significant improvements to pre-hospital services in recent times is the emergency aeromedical support service, EAS, which the Government has established on a permanent basis. Since its introduction in 2012, the EAS, from its base in Athlone, has completed almost 1,200 missions for time critical and seriously ill patients, including those in the mid-west. In addition, the development of the intermediate care service, which is based in Limerick, provides vital support to the hospitals in the region, allowing patients to move to the most appropriate facility for the treatment they need.

In 2016, we will build on these improvements through the provision of additional resources to the National Ambulance Service. While I have no doubt that the mid-west will benefit from the additional resources, I am not in a position at this stage to give specific details in regard to any particular region. The details of the plan for all HSE services, including the ambulance service, will be outlined in the national service plan together with the allocation of existing and new resources. I can confirm that provision will be made for an increased ambulance service staffing intake and the expansion of community first responder schemes. Developments nationally will also be influenced by the National Ambulance Service independent capacity review, which will help to determine current and future service needs. Areas being examined include staff numbers and skill mix as well as resources and deployment locations.

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