Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 May 2014
217. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the approximate number of defibrillators in schools throughout the country; his views on the number of these that are locked inside schools and not available outside school hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21886/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra218. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the approximate number of defibrillators in existence in local government offices throughout the country; his views on the number of these that are locked inside public buildings and not available outside office hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21889/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra223. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the number of defibrillators in existence throughout the country; his views on the number of these that are locked inside public buildings and not available outside office hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21888/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra256. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the number of defibrillators that are located in Government offices and buildings under the remit of his Department and those under his aegis throughout the country; if these are available in emergency cases outside of office hours to the community in the locations where they are based; the number and cost of same; if he will consider putting some arrangement in place whereby these defibrillators can be located where the public can get access out of office hours in the interest of health and safety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22480/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 217, 218, 223 and 256 together.
My Department has no information on the utilisation of defibrillators nor the operational issues associated with them. There is currently no structured public access defibrillation programme in operation in Ireland that specifies the conditions for providing defibrillators in public places.
The Public Health (Availability of Defibrillators) Bill 2013 that is currently on Committee Stage outlines a scheme that would require the owners of particular types of premises or venues to install and maintain defibrillators so that they would be available for public use. The Bill sets out the requirement to provide defibrillators in a range of settings and for events which have a regular attendance in excess of 100 persons per day. It was agreed that there are a number or questions that need to be considered when designing a public defibrillation programme for Ireland and Government approval was therefore granted for the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to undertake a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) of a Public Access Defibrillator Programme for Ireland.
The first meeting of the Expert Advisory Group on Public Access Defibrillation took place on 13th March 2014 with a second meeting due to take place in June 2014 and the third meeting and Final Draft Report Stage being undertaken in August 2014. In mid-September, 2014 it is envisaged that a Public Consultation will begin, ending on or about 17th October 2014.
The health technology assessment of public access defibrillation currently being conducted by HIQA will examine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of different configurations of any potential public access defibrillation programme. No information is available on the exact numbers of AEDs that are currently in use in Ireland. Based on data from a number of suppliers, it is estimated that in excess of 17,000 units have been sold in this country since 1998. However no information is currently available on the locations of these devices, what proportion are maintained and functional, and how many are available for use by the public. Analysis of the existing availability of automatic external defibrillators will form part of the HIQA health technology assessment that is due to be completed in mid November 2014.
