Denis Naughten
Question:604. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health his plans to expand the role of the emergency aeromedical support service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25607/14]
View answerTuesday, 24 June 2014
Questions (604)
Written answers
The Emergency Aeromedical Support Service (EAS) was established as a pilot project between the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Air Corps, with additional support from the Irish Coastguard Service where necessary. The service provides dedicated aeromedical support to the NAS in the west, specifically where land ambulance transit times would not be clinically appropriate. The EAS completed 652 missions up to the end of May 2014, about one third of which involved STEMI-type heart attack patients, who need time-critical transfers to primary percutaneous coronary intervention units for treatment.
An evaluation of the pilot found a clinical need for the service and recommended that it should be established on a permanent basis. I accepted the review’s findings and an inter-service working group is currently examining how best to implement the report’s recommendations. With the agreement of the Minister for Defence, aeromedical support by the Air Corps to the EAS will continue until September 2014, pending finalisation of the deliberations of the working group.