Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address, on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, the matter of the ambulance service in the north east. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is pleased to inform the House that six additional staff have been approved to be deployed to the Monaghan and Castleblayney ambulance stations. The additional staff are expected to be in place in the coming weeks and will provide an additional emergency ambulance at both stations during weekdays.

The Deputy referred to access to vehicles. Significant capital funding has been allocated to the HSE National Ambulance Service annually to support the vehicle replacement policy. The National Ambulance Service has undertaken a number of measures to address the issue of ambulance service provision in the north east. There has been significant investment in manpower, fleet and technology in recent years. An additional 25 patient and clinical care staff were assigned to the north Leinster region during 2018. This region covers the counties referred to by the Deputy. The Minister, Deputy Harris, acknowledges that in the Border counties the National Ambulance Service works closely with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service to provide a more responsive service for the region.

The capital review published in 2016 identified particular difficulties in serving rural areas, such as the north east. The capital review indicated that the only way to improve first response times in rural areas in particular is through voluntary community first responder schemes. The National Ambulance Service continues to work with local CFR groups throughout the region to enhance services, with 29 CFR groups operating in the counties of Louth, Monaghan, Cavan and Meath.

The National Ambulance Service has undergone a significant process of modernisation in recent years and several important service innovations and developments have taken place. The national emergency operations centre has been established. Emergency calls are received and emergency resources are dispatched from the centre. The National Ambulance Service now has full visibility of all available paramedic resources and vehicles in real time, ensuring that the closest available resource is dispatched to an emergency. In addition, the National Ambulance Service has developed the intermediate care service to provide lower acuity hospital transfers, thus freeing up emergency ambulances for the more urgent calls. A permanent emergency aeromedical support service has been established to provide a more timely response to persons in rural areas. Other recent developments include the development of alternative pathways to care. The hear-and-treat clinical hub went live in the national emergency operations centre in March last year. This service diverts some lower acuity patients away from busy emergency departments, freeing up some emergency capacity. The anticipation is that such initiatives will help to improve the availability of ambulance resources in the country, including in the north east.

In recent years, year-on-year additional investment has been directed towards the National Ambulance Service. This year the National Ambulance Service budget has increased to an unprecedented €168.6 million. This will support the National Ambulance Service in continuing to deliver a high-quality service in the region.

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