I thank Deputy Adams for giving notice about a very specific matter here. In a general sense, obviously, the Government is very anxious to ensure that people get medical treatment as swiftly and as safely as possible from the health service. Since 2011 there has been a major change programme under way to reconfigure the way pre-hospital emergency care services are delivered throughout the country. Clearly, great progress has been made, but there is still a good deal of further work to be done. For instance, in 2015, €144 million was allocated to the National Ambulance Service, which serves 4.6 million people, responds to 300,000 ambulance calls per year and employs more than 1,600 staff across 100 locations. The service has a fleet of 500 different vehicles, including emergency ambulances, rapid response vehicles, intermediate care vehicles, motorbikes and the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulances. Clearly the programme is continuing to evolve and change.
Deputy Adams raises a very specific case. I asked for a report on this, and I have a preliminary report here. The National Ambulance Service can confirm that an ambulance broke down near Ballindine, County Mayo, on the Mayo-Galway border, at ten minutes past two on 26 August 2015. Two of the vehicle's rear wheels were dislodged from the vehicle while a patient was being transferred from Letterkenny General Hospital to University Hospital Galway. There was a patient on board the ambulance at the time, as Deputy Adams mentioned, as well as two paramedics, a doctor and a nurse. An ambulance was immediately dispatched to the incident, arriving at the scene at 2.15 p.m. - that is, five minutes after the incident happened - and the driver took the appropriate action. The patient, medical personnel and one of the paramedics travelled in the second ambulance to University Hospital Galway, UHG, and the patient arrived safely at 3.05 p.m., or five minutes past three. The ambulance from which the wheels had dislodged was recovered from the scene for further investigation and examination. I would point out that there was no deviation at all from the care and attention being given to the patient in question, and it is important to say that.
I can confirm for Deputy Adams that the ambulance service is carrying out a comprehensive investigation to determine what exactly happened and why this breakdown occurred. That investigation will include interviews with all of the staff members who operated the vehicle concerned during the transfer of the patient to Galway. Obviously the driver took appropriate and careful action which resulted in no adverse effects and no deviation from the care being provided to the patient. The investigation will also include a detailed examination of the vehicle by an independent engineer to determine the nature of the breakdown and an examination of the vehicle's service and maintenance history to see how that stacks up.
The vehicle, as Deputy Adams mentioned, has an 07 registration and had driven 411,786 km in total. It was stationed at Letterkenny. The engine was replaced on 17 August 2010 at 165,000 km and again on 16 February 2015 at 390,000 km. The preliminary findings, for Deputy Adams's information, suggest that the wheel nuts loosened, which resulted in the wheels becoming dislodged. This is a cause of extreme concern to the NAS. An urgent examination of the vehicle is being undertaken and any necessary corrective action will be taken.
When I drove my own car, that happened to me once. The wheel became dislodged and the reason was that the change from wheel braces to air-tightening of nuts resulted in somebody not doing the job properly.
