Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I will be taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Mary Harney, Minister for Health and Children.

As part of the development of the Health Service Executive a national ambulance service was established in 2005. This new organisation replaced the eight regional ambulance services that existed under the former health board structure. The objective is to provide clinically appropriate and timely pre-hospital emergency care and patient or client transport services. This includes working closely with other health-care professionals in order to achieve the most suitable integrated health-care service. As part of the process, modern technology and clinical practice guidance are used and this will continue to be a feature as the service develops.

The service operates from 94 stations located throughout the country and is controlled from 14 command and control centres. There are approximately 1,350 staff involved in the provision of services. A wide range of vehicles is used and their suitability is constantly being reviewed both in terms of European standards and developing models of pre-hospital emergency care and patient transport in line with identified international models of best practice.

Expenditure on the pre-hospital and ambulance service has increased significantly in recent years. In 1991 expenditure was €25.8 million, with this figure increasing to €48.6 million in 1997. In 2007, the allocation to the national ambulance service has increased to over €122 million.

There is a full commitment to the expansion and development of the national ambulance service, which to date has seen investment both in revenue and capital funding. This has realised the purchase of 67 new ambulance vehicles in 2006 and 65 new vehicles in 2007. There has also been refurbishment and development of new ambulance stations; continued education and training for advanced paramedics; introduction of rapid response vehicles; development of services as part of emergency care networks; and the development of a national partnership which is effectively dealing with the change agenda required to develop the service in a manner which will deliver high quality mobile health care.

The Health Service Executive is aware of the continued increased demands placed on the service and is currently conducting a national spatial analysis identifying the demands across the country. The analysis has already provided a draft report for the north-west and will have the north-east finished within the next month. The service is prioritising the next areas to be analysed. This analysis will identify the optimum shift patterns which historically have been developed in line with historical demands within the former health board areas. The analysis will also identify optimum ambulance station locations and identify the appropriate skill mix of staff.

The inception of the Health Service Executive has removed the former operational boundaries throughout the country and therefore resources can be deployed based on demands. In some areas, as a consequence of spikes in demand and staff absences, this can impact on resources and mean that staff will be asked to cover these additional shifts on overtime.

The service is prioritising workload and is increasing its capacity to deal with demands. It is in the final stages of contracting private ambulance companies to assist where necessary. In addition, following a selection and recruitment process that commenced in July of this year, 37 staff have been offered employment subject to Garda clearance and former employer references. The Health Service Executive is continuing to examine the issue of staff recruitment and is currently considering a number of options. The Minister has every confidence the measures being taken to improve the ambulance service are on track to achieve this effect as speedily as possible.