Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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602. To ask the Minister for Health if he will report on the proposed changes to the ambulance services from Dublin Fire Brigade; if he will provide an update on any proposed changes that his Department and local authorities are examining; and if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of ambulances dispatched from fire stations in Dublin during the years 2012 to 2014 and in 2015 to date. [14648/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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HIQA, in its report of December last year, identified serious patient safety concerns over a lack of co-ordination between the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service and the National Ambulance Service. The urgent need to address these issues was stressed, particularly for 999/112 call-taking and ambulance dispatch, as well as overall clinical governance.

Following discussions on these issues, the HSE and Dublin City Council agreed in principle to address the weaknesses identified, through the provision of a single point of contact for all emergency calls in Dublin. Under this agreement, all 999/112 ambulance calls for the Dublin region, and the tasking and dispatching of DFB and NAS ambulances, will be from a single centre, the new National Emergency Operations Centre, in Tallaght. In addition, clinical governance of Dublin ambulance services will become the responsibility of the NAS Medical Director. It is important to note that DFB will continue to provide an emergency ambulance service in Dublin. Only the structures around the clinical governance of the service and the management of calls will change under these proposals.

The HSE and Dublin City Council have established a joint implementation group which is currently examining ways to progress the necessary changes over a period of six months. Dublin Fire Brigade staff, through their union, are being fully consulted on these changes and a joint Dublin City Council/Union group has been set up to move the process forward.

With regard to the statistical information sought, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.