Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that is important to communities all over Ireland. The Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, is working closely with the head of the National Ambulance Service, Mr. Robert Morton, and they are now very much focused on the implementation of the national ambulance strategy. We have provided substantial additional resources to the NAS over the past couple of years. Record investment of more than €200 million was allocated to the service this year, an increase of approximately €30 million on that allocated in 2019.

When it comes to what we can do directly at the centre of government, we have prioritised the allocation of resources for the service. In the 2022 budget the service received its largest overall investment to date of €200.7 million, which included more than €8 million for an additional 128 staff, including paramedics, to address baseline capacity and strengthen clinical capacity at the clinical hub. The NAS staff complement, as of the end of September this year, is 2,032 whole-time equivalents. This represents an increase of 17% since the commencement of the previous National Ambulance Service strategic plan in December 2016.

Having said all that, I acknowledge the points made by the Deputy and that there have been instances where the service has fallen short of the standard we expect. This may well be for a variety of reasons, including vacancies, which the service is seeking to fill, and for an active recruitment campaign is under way. New investment is going into the rolling stock the service has as well as into upgrading bases. They are actively recruiting the professionals they need to provide the quality of service the Deputy and I, as well as all the people who we represent, expect.

Undoubtedly, response times have been impacted by high service demand, delays in patient transfers at busy hospital emergency departments and the continuing need for ambulance service crews to carry out necessary Covid infection prevention and control measures. However, where the standard falls short of what people expect, this should be made known to the authorities and a complaint should be made so that a learning can come from it. We all have experienced individual cases in which the standard was not what we would have expected. That is not, as the Deputy said, because of the tremendous work of all of those working in the service. They are working in challenging and difficult circumstances and are doing the very best they can. I assure them, on behalf of the Minister and the Government, that we will continue to provide the resources they need to ensure the service is up to standard.

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