Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children. The Health Service Executive has responsibility for the continued development of the ambulance service in the former Midland Health Board region. The HSE has advised that there have been a number of developments in pre-hospital emergency care services in the region in recent years. These include the provision of a new ambulance station at Birr, County Offaly, which opened last February. This station is providing a new service on a 24 hour basis to the area. The elimination of on-call arrangements as a means of providing emergency ambulance cover is designed to facilitate improvements in response times. Additional funding has been provided to the HSE in recent years towards this initiative. This funding has facilitated the elimination of on-call in the former Midland Health Board region.

The most significant development in the sector for many years is the roll-out of the advanced paramedic training programme. This will ensure that ambulance personnel can administer a range of 19 additional medications. This includes, for example, cardiac medications, which cannot be administered currently. The national ambulance training school, which operates under the auspices of the HSE in conjunction with University College Dublin, is providing training for advanced paramedic candidates. Two advanced paramedics from the former Midland Health Board region graduated in 2005 and another five are currently receiving training.

The HSE purchased two rapid response vehicles for the former Midland Health Board region in 2005 to enable the establishment of a new rapid response service. This service is being operated by the two advanced paramedics since they graduated. The HSE also replaced six ambulances in the region's fleet with new vehicles as part of its fleet replacement programme. The HSE has identified the provision of an ambulance base at Edenderry as a priority development in its capital plan for 2006. The capital plan has been approved by the HSE board and was submitted to the Tánaiste for consideration. The Tánaiste will respond to the HSE on the matter in the near future.