Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To date, there have been 3,500 referrals of housebound persons. Of that, between 300 and 400 came in the last week alone. The GP refers the person who is housebound and it is then triaged. The complexity of the triage process involves following up with the GP, the individual to be vaccinated or their family. Several additional referrals that came in this week are awaiting triage.

There are ten ambulance vehicles on the road, operating seven days a week. One must understand the complexity of the number of people we have to get to. Each call would involve maybe 30 minutes to 40 minutes with a particular person. Up to 1,800 people so far have received dose 1 of the vaccine through the ambulance service.

The HSE is making contact, starting today and into next week, with everyone who has not yet received a call-back to reassure them that nobody will be left behind. However, it is quite complex. When the National Ambulance Service has turned up at houses, it has been met with different issues. In some instances, the person has been vaccinated already by his or her GP. In other instances, the person has gone to hospital or to a nursing home and was not aware of the call. There also have been refusals and, in several cases, the person had passed away.

It is seven days a week covering the whole country. Nobody will be left behind.

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