Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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463. To ask the Minister for Health in relation to utilising the services of fire fighters, employed full-time or on a part-time retainer, in their capacity as trained emergency first responders, as a back-up to the ambulance service, his plans to meet with the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government to discuss a memorandum of understanding between the Health Service Executive and local authorities, as well as the financial resources that would be required to implement these supports across the State. [13961/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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While there are no formal arrangements in place, fire services already respond to calls for assistance from other emergency services, and provide assistance where appropriate. For the National Ambulance Service (NAS), this could, for example, involve the provision of an emergency first response (EFR) to an incident where an ambulance is not nearby or immediately available, specialist assistance at a road traffic accident, or assisting in the removal of patients to an ambulance where this presents difficulties for the ambulance crew. In a number of areas, there are already local arrangements between the NAS and fire services to provide EFR assistance for 112/999 calls, in particular for cardiac incidents.

As I have already publicly stated, I am very supportive of this initiative and would like to see development of emergency first responder capability across all our emergency services. To this end, I would like to see EFR capacity extended across our fire services. Fire services are well placed geographically and this would be an excellent enhancement of existing capacity and resources in communities across Ireland. As well, it would very neatly complement the voluntary network of community first response teams which is already in place.

Given the scope for such development, its potential value for getting initial treatment to people as quickly as possible and the obvious patient benefit, I would very much like to see consideration at national level, between the NAS and fire services, as to how best to approach this issue, particularly in terms of operational interaction and clinical governance. This is being done for community first response and that may be a good model for fire services emergency response. I would be happy to facilitate such discussions, along with my colleague, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government.