Vol. 491 No. 3
285 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has satisfied himself with the system of work for ambulance nurses which is operated in the Southern Health Board area; his views on whether the present on-call system is fair; when he proposes to implement the recommendations of the ambulance service review report; if funding is in place to implement these recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11827/98]
Government policy on the development of the ambulance service is as set out in the report of the Review Group on the Ambulance Service. With regard to the role of nurses in the ambulance service the report states that, in situations where the current staffing arrangement for ambulances involves nurses being withdrawn from wards, this arrangement should be phased out as soon as possible.
The provision of ambulance services in the Southern Health Board area and the system of work for ambulance nurses in that service, including the on-call arrangements, are the statutory responsibility of the Southern Health Board in the first instance. The recommendations of the Review Group on the Ambulance Service are being implemented by all health boards but it is a matter for each board to identify the priority areas it wishes to develop in relation to the implementation of the report's recommendations.
This year I provided an additional £620,000 to the Southern Health Board for the development of its ambulance service. This is the highest level of funding which has been provided to the board in a single year since the publication of the report of the review group in 1993 and brings to approximately £1.9 million the total funding made available to the Southern Health Board for this purpose.
