Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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259. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the restructuring of the National Ambulance Service; if this restructuring has delivered a better and more reliable service to persons in towns across Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23431/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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A significant reform programme has been underway in recent years in pre-hospital care services, to ensure a clinically driven, nationally co-ordinated system, supported by improved technology. The programme involves a number of measures, including the Performance Improvement Action Plan, development of the intermediate care service, the trial emergency aeromedical service (EAS), and the NAS Control Centre Reconfiguration Project. In particular, the National Ambulance Service (NAS) is developing staff clinical skills in line with the development of paramedic professional qualifications by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council.

The NAS is a forward-looking service. It deploys its emergency resources in a dynamic manner and on an area and national, rather than a local, basis. It has been, and still is, undergoing major transformation, including in terms of clinical skills and work practices, application of technology and modernisation of management and infrastructure. Many of these initiatives are still in train and I am confident that they will result in the improvements in the treatment available in pre-hospital care to seriously ill and injured patients.