Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The programme for partnership Government committed to a feasibility study on the expansion of the emergency aeromedical service, EAS. In addition, the programme committed to delivering safer pre-hospital care by considering the recommendations of three reviews of ambulance services, namely, the HIQA governance review, the national ambulance capacity review and the review of Dublin ambulance services. The programme further committed to providing additional annual investment in ambulance personnel and vehicles.

The capacity review, which was published last year, examined overall ambulance resource levels and distribution against demand and activity. Implementation of the recommendations of the capacity review will require a multi-annual programme of phased investment in ambulance manpower, vehicles and technology. To that end, €7.2 million in additional funding was provided in 2016 for the national ambulance service, NAS, including €2 million in development funding. In 2017, an additional sum of €3.6 million was made available, which included €1 million to fund new developments. I confirm that additional funding will be made available for the continued development of the NAS in 2018. This will be set out in the national service plan for 2018, which the Senator will be aware is being prepared as we speak.

With regard to pre-hospital emergency care in Roscommon, the NAS operates from Roscommon town, Boyle and Loughglynn. The Senator may wish to note that in order to further develop services in Roscommon, the NAS acquired the former Garda station at Loughglynn. Following refurbishment, it opened in 2016 as a dispatch point. This facilitates better utilisation of resources and provides greater geographical ambulance cover for the north Roscommon area. The NAS dynamically deploys resources to respond to incidents as they arise. This is achieved in the Roscommon area by dispatching resources from adjacent ambulance stations in neighbouring counties. Thus, resources from ambulance stations in Carrick-on-Shannon, Tuam, Longford and Athlone can be deployed to incidents in Roscommon as required.

Members will be aware that the EAS was established to provide a more timely response to persons in rural areas. The service is operated by the national ambulance service in association with the Air Corps. The service is available seven days a week in daylight hours and is specifically targeted at the west of Ireland. The highest demand for the EAS comes from counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. My Department and the national ambulance service are exploring the feasibility of extending the very successful EAS through the establishment of a community-based helicopter emergency medical service in the south. Discussions in this regard are ongoing. The capacity review identified particular difficulties serving rural areas such as County Roscommon. Outside the greater Dublin area, the population is widely dispersed with a relatively large population living in rural areas. On foot of this population distribution, Ireland has a far higher percentage of activity in rural areas than other ambulance services. The review indicated that the only practical way to improve first-response times in rural areas is through voluntary community first responder, CFR, schemes. The NAS continues to work with local CFR groups across the country to develop and enhance services.