Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, in respect of the ambulance service in the south-east region and in Thurles in particular.

The National Ambulance Service makes use of historical data and future projections of service volumes in determining the allocation of resources and deployment locations within an area. Therefore, to increase the response capacity of the south region of the National Ambulance Service, in 2020 an additional six whole-time equivalent posts have been allocated specifically to the south east. In addition, a further eight full-time posts have been allocated to assist in the implementation of the recommendations of the report, A Trauma System for Ireland. It is projected that these 14 posts will be filled before the end of 2020.

The National Ambulance Service continuously evaluates its services and aligns them to available resources and activity levels. It is not a static service and as such deploys its resources in a dynamic manner. It operates on an area and national basis as opposed to a local basis. The dynamic deployment of ambulance resources ensures that the nearest appropriate resource is mobilised to the location of the incident.

The National Ambulance Service has undergone a significant process of modernisation in recent years and several important service innovations and developments have taken place. Many of these innovations are aimed at improving response times and resources availability in rural areas. Recent initiatives include the development of alternative pathways of care and a clinical hub, which facilitates a hear-and-treat model of care. This went live in the national emergency operations centre in March 2018. The hub has now been expanded to provide a public information telephone line on available mental health supports and services. The service diverts some lower acuity patients away from busy emergency departments and frees up some emergency capacity. In addition, the National Ambulance Service has developed the intermediate care service to provide lower acuity hospital transfers. This frees up emergency ambulances for more urgent calls. Community paramedics have also been introduced in rural and urban areas to allow patients to receive care closer to home. It is anticipated that such initiatives, coupled with the aforementioned increase in staff numbers, will help to improve availability of ambulance resources across the south-east region.

Over 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 €173.9 million. This will support the National Ambulance Service in continuing to deliver a high-quality service throughout the country.

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