Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

I wish to raise the many problems in the National Ambulance Service. Staff are doing their best but there are problems beyond their control. I will outline some of those problems. There are not enough staff or ambulances. We have approximately 1,500 staff. Scotland, which has a similar population, has more than double that number. We have 675 operational ambulances in the service. Scotland has more than double that number.

There is a problem with so-called dynamic deployment, and I really want to push the Taoiseach on this. What dynamic deployment means is that ambulances can be sent anywhere. An ambulance based in Laois could be sent as far as Cork or Waterford. Ambulances are being sent that far. Sometimes they are turned back when they are within a couple of miles of their destination because a local ambulance has got there a minute or two quicker. A crew can do more than 600 km across a shift and only pick up one or two patients Recently in Laois, there was only one crew and one ambulance on call. When the crew clocked in, they were immediately sent to Wexford. Meanwhile, Laois was left without an ambulance. There is one ambulance station. On Monday and Tuesday nights, there is only one ambulance available. An ambulance can take up two hours to arrive at locations within the county - it might not even arrive at all - because of this. That is no fault of the staff.

As stated, only one ambulance is on call on Monday and Tuesday nights. That ambulance can be sent to destinations three counties away, which has actually happened. Recently, a young person died less than a mile from the hospital. There is, as already noted, the one ambulance base in the county and there was no ambulance was available to pick up that child. Two ambulances were on call at the time but both were attending calls in other counties.

We have less cover in the county than we had 15 years ago, despite the fact that the population has increased by over 40% and now stands at over 100,000. There is also a problem with the rapid-response vehicles in the county, namely the cars used by advanced paramedics. Again, there is less cover now. The drivers of those cars used to be allowed to bring them home. Regardless of whether they were on shift or not, if they were contacted, they would leave from their homes and rapidly deploy to the scene of an accident or emergency. They not doing that now because some genius decided that they had benefit-in-kind because they had cars with all the signs on them that they might be using to do the shopping or something like that. As a result, these vehicles are left at the base and the extra cover that people were offering on a voluntary basis is no longer there.

In addition to everything I have outlined, we have a staff shortage and retention problems because of staff burnout. The Irish Medical Times reported earlier this year that the critical shortage of advanced paramedics is endangering life. There are targets in this regard. I have them here. They were sent to me in the form of a reply to a parliamentary question I tabled recently. In a situation involving a life-threatening illness or injury, the target time for advanced paramedics to reach the scene is 18 minutes and 59 seconds. That is only happening 45% of the time. If you set a target that low, of course you will not meet it. It is ridiculous. Will the Government put an end to the madness of so-called dynamic deployment? Will it invest in more ambulances and increase the number of staff available? Will it step up recruitment immediately?

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