Results 2,981-3,000 of 26,350 for speaker:David Cullinane
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: I welcome the witnesses. I tabled some parliamentary questions in advance of this session so I have a breakdown of response times by region and so on, which I will reference. Mr. Keeley said a few moments ago that the Dublin Fire Brigade's ambulance services are not hitting the standards that are required. That is quite a stark statement. I do not blame him or his staff, who are obviously...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: I want to get to the response times. In terms of the Delta calls, which were referenced, the figures for last year are quite stark. Mr. Keeley might be able to explain why this is the case. In December 2022, the percentage of status 1 Delta incidents responded to within the 19 minutes was 19%. Going back to 2019 it was 33%. Only 19% of those Delta incidents were responded to within the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: I am going to get to the other figures in a second. Was there a report, the Brady-Flaherty report, done on the Dublin Fire Brigade and the wider ambulance service a number of years ago? Maybe Mr. Morton can answer that question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Did that report make recommendations?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Was it published?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Why was it not published?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Would it not be in the public interest to publish it, given that it made recommendations? I have received a copy of the report myself but it has not been published so I do not want to go into the details of what was in it. We should be seeking for that report to be published in the first instance because it raised a number of fundamental questions. We cannot be doing reports and then not...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Why are the National Ambulance Service and the Dublin Fire Brigade not making more noise about this? I know they have published a capacity review but these response times are not good at all. They are unacceptable, to be quite frank. People depend on the ambulance service when there is an emergency. For people living in the south east, which I do, the average response time for...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: It states in the 2022 capacity review, as Mr. Morton said, that recruitment efforts are currently being surpassed by service demand.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: We are not even standing still. It is worse than that. Capacity is being overtaken by service demand. The level of additional capacity needed has been outlined, that is, a figure of over 4,000. That would be more than double the existing workforce, would it not?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Is there any chance of that target being met?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Is that being done?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: The submission was sent to me and I assume it was sent to others. Did Mr. Morton receive a copy of this?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: When was that done? What year?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Over what time period would that be?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: I need to come back in once more. I have to put it to Mr. Morton again that the response times are completely unacceptable. The percentage increase in the targets which are not being met is also really concerning. I received a submission from a qualified paramedic, titled the failure of the recruitment campaign, NRS02294. I want to read one paragraph from it and for Mr. Morton to respond...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: I will start with the different types of response calls. Clinical status 1, the life-threatening cases, are the ones we need to respond to as quickly as possible. They are echo and delta calls. We then have Charlie and bravo calls, which are clinical status 2, serious but not life-threatening, and alpha and omega calls, which are clinical status 3, non-serious or life-threatening. Are any...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: There is some evidence to suggest that. We hear a lot about the offload turnaround time in hospitals, which have unfortunately increased, as Mr. Keeley noted in his opening statement, through no fault of paramedics. We hear about ambulances parked outside hospitals from which patients cannot be disembarked because no bed or capacity is available. Is that a growing problem? During the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: Mr. Keeley is saying it is a problem but a contingency plan is now in place. More is being done to alleviate that problem.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Ambulance Services, Recruitment and Retention of Personnel, and Response Times: Discussion (22 Feb 2023)
David Cullinane: I will come back to the Brady-Flaherty report. It has been mentioned by a number of witnesses, including Mr. Morton. This committee requested that it be furnished with the report. Before they leave, will the witnesses confirm whether there is any impediment to them giving this committee the report? Do they have to get permission from Dublin City Council or the Minister or can they make...