Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising the very important issue of ambulance service provision on islands for residents and visitors. I am here on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, who, unfortunately, could not be here tonight.

As part of its planning for medical emergencies, the NAS has made significant investment in training and equipment for volunteers on our inhabited islands. Through the NAS community engagement unit, training and support are provided to emergency first responders, EFRs, on the islands, who provide an essential service to their communities. I am informed that five of the six islands located in the south west now have community first responder, CFR, groups. These include members who have been been trained to CFR and EFR levels. Furthermore, automated external defibrillator cabinets have been provided on all inhabited islands with year-round populations through local funding and funding under the NAS out-of-hospital cardiac arrest strategy.

Emergency medical support is provided to the islands by the emergency aeromedical services in the west and the north west and by the publicly funded helicopter emergency medical service in the south west. The Irish Coast Guard, IRCG, search and rescue service also provides essential support to the offshore islands and has made a number of volunteers active on Inis Oírr, Árainn, Inis Mór and Toraigh. These volunteers are available to support emergency responses, including the arrival and the departure of IRCG helicopters.

In the context of land ambulance services on the islands, I am informed that the NAS has supplied ambulances this year to Inis Mór and Árainn Mhór from its existing resources. As regards the other islands, the HSE and the NAS continue to explore ways to enhance services to the communities there. I understand that one issue about supplying ambulances is about making sure there are people on the islands who are trained to deal with the emergencies.

Turning to the service provided by the NAS more generally, I take this opportunity to acknowledge the commitment of the NAS in delivering access to patient care throughout the country. Last year saw record levels of activity, with nearly 400,000 emergency calls received. Activity to date this year is up around 11% on the same period in 2023. Despite this unprecedented increase in patient demand, national ambulance response time performance this year has shown improvement over the same period in 2023. Government investment in the NAS has also improved, with a budget of more than €247 million being provided. This represents an overall increase of 30%, or €60 million, since 2020. This increase in investment increased total NAS staffing at the end of August to 2,363, an overall growth in staff of 273 since 2020. Of these, approximately 2,100 are front-line-facing patient care roles.

The Government has committed to provide a further increase in funding for the NAS in 2025. This will take the form of an additional 13%, or €33 million, and underlines the Government's continuing commitment to building further capacity in the NAS. Some €8 million in new development funding for 2024 will allow for the creation of 180 additional positions, including essential front-line paramedics, to build further capacity in the face of increasing patient demand.

I extend my gratitude to the NAS and its staff across the country for their commitment and dedication to patient care.

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