Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter.

The Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, PHECC, is the independent statutory agency with responsibility for standards, education and training in the field of pre-hospital emergency care. The council is the regulator for emergency medical services and its role is to protect the public. Automated external defibrillators can be placed in cabinets which are widely available for interior and exterior deployment and use. The PHECC has adopted the international liaison committee on resuscitation automated external defibrillator signage. This is defibrillator signage with a specified standard attached to it. The sign must be a green square without markers. The safety sign requires a cross in the right hand corner as part of the requirements of the standard and a heart and flash are standard symbols that must make up the sign. The standard allows text to be provided in a separate box to improve comprehension.

I advise the Senator that one of the means to help to improve health outcomes in this area is through the expansion of the national first response network. Community first responder groups comprise this national network. They are people from local communities who are trained in the provision of basic life support and the use of defibrillators who attend a potentially life-threatening emergency in their area. They are then able to provide for an early intervention in situations where a person has a heart attack or cardiac arrest by, among other things, resuscitation and defibrillation.Cardiac First Responders Ireland which was launched in 2015 is the national umbrella organisation for community first responder groups. It works with the National Ambulance Service, the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council and the centre for emergency medical science in University College Dublin. There are 141 community first responder groups tasked by the National Ambulance Service. If an emergency 999 or 112 call for cardiac arrest, choking, chest pain or breathing difficulties is made to the National Ambulance Service in an area where a community first responder group is established, the on-duty community first responder receives a text message from the National Ambulance Service at the same time as an ambulance is despatched with location and call details. The community first responder goes straight to the scene and administers initial care, including defibrillation, if required, until the National Ambulance Service emergency resources arrive.

The National Ambulance Service supports the establishment of new cardiac first responder groups around the country and encourages all communities to consider the establishment of such a scheme in their areas. I am familiar with the excellent work such groups do in my local area. I welcome the work of Cardiac First Responders Ireland, as part of which initiative valuable life-saving assistance and help are provided. This is especially important in non-urban areas where an immediate intervention may be required pending the arrival of an ambulance.

On the suggestion made by some local authorities on the use of existing telephone boxes, I will be pleased to convey the Senator's message in this regard to the relevant Minister.