John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I call on the Leader to initiate a debate in this House on the ambulance service in this country. There is an urgent need for the Minister for Health to deal with this. A damning Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, report has received an airing in the media today. It examined the ambulance service response times, understaffing and the quality of the fleet. I have stated several times in the House that if one does not get an ambulance in eight minutes in Dublin, it is almost a crime, whereas in rural Ireland, one could be waiting any amount of time for an ambulance. I heard a man on the radio this morning telling how he called an ambulance for his mother following an accident but there was no available ambulance for her. He subsequently found out that six ambulances were lined up at the accident and emergency department at Letterkenny for two or more hours, waiting for the hospital to take the patients. That is why none was available for his mother.

It is laughable that the HSE does not have to deal with the damning HIQA report as there is only a moral imperative in this respect, which comes from the chief executive of HIQA. There was a moral imperative on the HSE when the accident and emergency department at Roscommon was being examined and considered unsafe, and it dealt with that issue immediately by shutting down the facility. It is an urgent issue. I have stated in the House before that we must form a national fire and ambulance service where the two elements can work together, with firemen trained as first responders or advanced paramedics. We must deal with the debate in an urgent manner.