Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the three Deputies for raising this issue. I give my apologies for not being Deputy Coveney or Deputy Harris. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, who gives his apologies. If there are commitments I cannot give, I will certainly take the requests of the Deputies back to both Ministers.

As the Deputies know, Dublin Fire Brigade provides emergency ambulance services in Dublin city and county by arrangement between Dublin City Council and the HSE. The HSE National Ambulance Service provides some emergency capacity in the greater Dublin area as well as non-emergency patient transport. I take this opportunity to commend the excellent work that is completed by the people that undertake that work for the Dublin Fire Brigade and the National Ambulance Service. In recent years, three comprehensive reviews of our ambulance services have been undertaken: the HIQA review, the independent Lightfoot review of National Ambulance Service capacity and the review of Dublin ambulance services that was jointly commissioned by the HSE and Dublin City Council.

The capacity review, published last year, examined overall ambulance resource levels and distribution against demand and activity. The review identified deficits in ambulance capacity, including in the Dublin area, which will require very significant investment to address, as the Deputies have pointed out. Implementation of the recommendations of the capacity review require a multi-annual programme of phased investment in ambulance manpower, vehicles and technology. To this end, increased funding has been made available for ambulance services in the HSE national service plan for this year.

The HIQA report on ambulance services, which was published in December 2014, highlighted significant public safety issues arising from two ambulance services operating in the same domain. The report identified concerns around the existence of two separate control and dispatch processes and also highlighted the need for greater clinical governance of both services. The HIQA report points very clearly to the need for enhanced integration of service provision in the greater Dublin area. The Dublin ambulance services review, which was commissioned in 2014, is focused on identifying a service model for the optimal provision of emergency ambulance services and patient care in the Dublin region, including service quality, patient safety, capacity and value for money for ambulance services.

I want to assure the House that the Minister, Deputy Harris, is fully aware and appreciative of the excellent historical tradition of service provided to the citizens of Dublin by the Dublin Fire Brigade. However, at the same time, it is fully accepted that in the interest of patient safety we need the DFB and the NAS to have a more co-ordinated and integrated approach to service delivery. It is important that we optimise and maximise all available resources to ensure the citizens of Dublin have the most responsive and safest ambulance service possible, which I know we all agree on.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, has not as yet received a copy of the final report on the review of Dublin ambulance services, which, as I mentioned, was commissioned by Dublin City Council and the HSE. However, to be clear, if any change to the model of service delivery is required, a formal proposal for those changes will have to be submitted to both the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, for their consideration and approval. To that end, discussions are taking place between officials in the Department of Health and the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. The Departments have requested a joint action plan from the HSE and DCC with regard to service and governance issues.

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