Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 March 2017
431. Deputy Shane Cassells asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the reason Meath fire services are not being dispatched to assist the ambulance and paramedic services in County Meath (details supplied). [13282/17]
View answerResponsibility for the provision of emergency medical services, including pre-hospital emergency care, rests with the Health Service Executive (HSE) which operates the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and emergency departments in hospitals in accordance with health sector legislation and national policy. The HSE operates under the remit of my colleague, the Minster for Health.
As Minister with policy and legislative responsibility for fire safety and the provision of fire services by local authorities, I am primarily concerned that local authority provided fire services are meeting their statutory obligations in respect of provision of fire services and fire safety. These responsibilities include the important activity of community and other fire safety initiatives as well as response to 999/112 calls. In 2013, the policy document “Keeping Communities Safe” was published and, for the first time, set out standards and norms against which local authorities can benchmark their fire services. In April 2016, the first report of the External Validation Group, titled “Local Delivery – National Consistency”, was published. This report assessed the review process undertaken in each of the 27 local authority fire services, and provided an appraisal of the current state of our local authority fire services.
In general, there is a high degree of collaboration and co-ordination of emergency activity among the Principal Emergency Services. In some circumstances, the HSE’s NAS calls for assistance from fire services in responding to certain categories of 999/112 emergency calls. Such calls are typically in respect of, but not limited to, ECHO (life threatening) emergencies. As well as being able to call on Community First Responders, the NAS is aware that many fire services are equipped with automatic external defibrillators and have trained their fire-fighters in Cardiac First Responder and Emergency First Responder to Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council standards. Fire services are so equipped and trained in the first instance for ensuring the health and safety of their own staff, but can use their skills and equipment where they encounter casualties at emergency incidents.
Fire services generally respond to calls for assistance from external bodies in accordance with protocols operated within the three fire services Regional Communications Centres. However, there is no national framework or agreement for cross-mobilisation between the Principal Emergency Services.
The feasibility of fire services being commissioned by the HSE to provide a response service in support of the NAS in responding to ECHO emergency calls is currently being discussed at national level at the Fire Services National Oversight & Implementation Group, which consists of fire service management and staff representatives. Any proposal emerging from these discussions will be considered in the first instance by the Management Board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management and could be used as the basis for discussions with the Health sector on this matter, if relevant.
Experience has shown that any proposal for formalising such assistance needs to be subject to appropriate governance and cost reimbursement arrangements and to be set in the context of a service agreement which will not impact on or adversely affect fire services' primary roles. It is important in such circumstances to ensure that local authority and fire services' resources are not diverted from their statutory fire service and fire safety responsibilities where they are providing assistance for another public body. The potential impact on the current Community First Responders schemes would also have to be assessed.
