Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address this House on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, about the work under way in developing a national register for AEDs and to echo the comment on the good work already carried out by community first responder groups under the auspices of our National Ambulance Service.

As the Senator may be aware, the HSE is currently in the implementation phase of the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest strategy for Ireland. This strategy was developed by an interdisciplinary steering group, led by the Department of Health, which had the aim of increasing the number of people who survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Ireland, using national and international experience to address all the elements in the chain of survival.

The HSE has since established an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest strategy implementation group to progress this work. The group is led by the National Ambulance Service and actions are being progressed by partner organisations, including Dublin Fire Brigade, the pre-hospital emergency care council, the Irish Heart Foundation and An Garda Síochána.

In line with the Senator's question, one of the projects currently under way is a work stream to develop a national AED register. Currently, the National Ambulance Service has a list of locations for over 2,000 AEDs on its national computer-aided dispatch system, which it can use to advise emergency callers in AED retrieval and use, if appropriate, while the emergency response is en route.

Currently, the implementation group is examining how a national AED register would better support existing emergency response systems in an integrated way. This includes the development of advice and support that may be required in the community setting on maintenance requirements and other practical concerns, for example.

I am happy to confirm to the House that the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest implementation group has received funding of €650,000 in budget 2021 to progress this important work as part of the overall implementation of the strategy. In addition, it is important to again stress the services already provided at community level in the area of cardiac response, and the Senator has rightly cited the work carried out by the National Ambulance Service and Community First Responder groups in that regard. Community First Responders are trained volunteers who are co-ordinated and dispatched by the National Ambulance Service to attend actual or potentially life-threatening emergencies. As these volunteers are professionally trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of defibrillators, they can respond to certain medical emergency calls in the community in that important first few minutes prior to the arrival of an emergency ambulance.

As highlighted by the Senator, our National Ambulance Service actively works with Community First Responders to advise and support on the importance of maintenance for their AEDs to ensure that they are operational at all times. The additional funding provided in 2021 in support of the work of the implementation group will facilitate progress on the AED register and other initiatives aimed at reducing cardiac arrest response times and improved survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. I note what the Senator said about how these have been mapped in Wicklow, Enniscorthy and County Laois. I saw it after that the awful incident last week in Sligo. People were putting on Twitter and Facebook where AEDs were. It is the same in Boyle and I have seen it there. I am sure that is happening around the country. We cannot have enough of that information because when one is in an emergency it is great to have it. Even I have looked to find out the nearest one to me and I am sure that has happened in many households around the country. I thank the Senator for raising this.