Dáil debates

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

National Ambulance Service: Motion [Private Members]

 

6:40 pm

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For some time now, our ambulance services have been under considerable strain. It is not unusual to receive complaints from people who have had to wait for long periods for an ambulance, even after calling the emergency numbers. People have to wait up to an hour or more for an ambulance to arrive. In some cases, on arriving at the hospital, an ambulance has to wait outside with the patient due to overcrowding in the emergency department. There are three hospitals in use for Dublin North-West, the constituency I represent. Those are Beaumont Hospital, the Mater hospital and Connolly Hospital. Each is under considerable pressure because of the wider issues our health system faces due to a lack of resources. Those hospitals are only a ten- or 20-minute drive away from most people in the Dublin North-West constituency. However, if you are ringing 999 for an ambulance, it is because you have a medical emergency and need help urgently. For whatever reason, you cannot make that journey without the help of an ambulance.

The National Ambulance Service has pointed out that due to the lack of a single call and dispatch model, the dispatch process in Dublin is not as seamless as in other areas and it is not possible to integrate all calls in one database to ensure improved planning and performance monitoring. That needs to be considered.

We are being told that ambulance units are being sent for hundreds of kilometres to respond to calls in Dublin to fill in all the gaps. This takes resources from the areas where they are supposed to be based. It makes no sense. Our motion calls for many measures that need to be considered, but ultimately the point is that we need an urgent review and an improvement of ambulance and accident and emergency resources for patients on arrival. We need ambulance services to be properly funded and to have more staff, equipment and vehicles. Patients must not be let wait for a long time in an emergency. Lives are at risk. The ambulance workers are at the front line. They are under so much stress and strain, especially since Covid. They are exhausted and burnt out and they need help.

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