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Ambulance Service Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Questions (994)

Arthur Spring

Question:

994. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Minister for Health in the context of the centralisation of the switchboard for ambulance emergency calls, his views on whether the call centre should be compartmentalised by region, with each section containing staff with excellent geographic knowledge of a particular region and locality. [27497/13]

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Written answers

The HSE National Ambulance Service (NAS), through its national control centre reconfiguration project, is continuing to rationalise the number of ambulance control rooms across the country, with a target of one national system. This project is focused on improving call taking and dispatch functions and on delivering improved technology. This will assist in improving response times and will allow the NAS to deploy emergency resources in a much more effective and efficient manner, on a regional and national basis rather than within small geographic areas.

The control centre reconfiguration project is consistent with international best practice and is endorsed by HIQA as the most appropriate approach to improve the quality of services to patients and facilitate investment in technologically enabled service delivery. The project is also a key element of Future Health: A Strategic Framework for Health Reform in Ireland 2012-2015.

The NAS will continue to use the same structured process to answer 999/112 calls and to prioritise responses callers will continue to be asked for direction to incidents, and special mapping tools will be in the Emergency Operations Centre which can plot the location of the incidents on the map. Responding crews can then be guided to the location in the normal way. In the later stages of this project, a new web-based satellite system will be introduced into all emergency vehicles so that paramedics can see the same map as the staff in the Emergency Operations Centre.

In relation to the particular query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service issue, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy in this matter.

Question No. 995 answered with Question No. 938.
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