Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 May 2000

Vol. 519 No. 7

Written Answers. - Ambulance Service.

David Stanton

Ceist:

88 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of times the air ambulance services were required in 1998, 1999 and to date in 2000; the situation with regard to air ambulance provisions here at present; the plans, if any, he has to develop an air ambulance service here and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14816/00]

Minister Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

The information requested by the Deputy is not routinely collected in my Department. However, my Department has asked the regional chief executive officer of the eastern regional health authority and the chief executive officers of the health boards to compile the information for their area and forward them directly to the Deputy.

The provision of an air ambulance service for emergency cases which cannot be safely conveyed by road ambulance continues to be provided by the Air Corps and the marine search and rescue helicopter service of the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.

Contacts regarding the provision of a dedicated air ambulance service are on-going with all interested parties involved with a view to developing a consensus on the most appropriate role for air ambulance in the overall context of pre hospital care. I am continuing to provide additional funding for pre-hospital care with funding of over £10 million in 2000. This is the largest annual amount ever provided for the development of the ambulance service.

It is important to acknowledge that an air ambulance service is only one element of an effective emergency medical care system. Since the publication of the report of the review group on the ambulance service in 1993 approximately £33 million has been provided for the implementation of the report's recommendations with well over half this funding being provided by this Government. This has resulted in major improvements in the service including: – the training of ambulance personnel; the specification and age profile of the ambulance fleet; the development of command and control centres; the opening of additional ambulance stations; and the provision of training and equipment to general practitioners in remote rural areas, on a pilot basis, to enable them to deal with emergencies in advance of the arrival of an ambulance.

I remain committed to the continued development of the pre-hospital care system identified both in the review group's findings and in the recent report of the cardiovascular health strategy group, Building Healthier Hearts. Proposals for the development of an air ambulance service fall to be considered in the wider context of developments in emergency medical services generally. Any initiative in this area needs to complement appropriately other pre-hospital resources such as the ambulance service, first responder schemes and other emergency response resources.