2025-12-17

I have been contacted by constituents who work in the ambulance service locally who asked me to request a rapid response vehicle at Tuam ambulance base. These workers are telling me they are under pressure. They are dealing with a very high volume of calls and they need more cover. The crews in Tuam cover a vast area across north and east Galway and south Mayo. The introduction of a second ambulance on a 24-7 basis in Tuam last year demonstrates the high volume of calls in the area and the need for this vehicle. The figures I have received show Tuam ambulance base responded to 3,578 calls in 2023, 5,297 calls in 2024 and 3,735 calls between January and August of this year. The local staff have told me they are never at the ambulance base because they are constantly out on calls. This vehicle would be at the base when they are out on calls to provide additional cover around the clock. A rapid response vehicle is not like a typical ambulance. It is a smaller vehicle that can respond more quickly. It would be staffed by an advanced paramedic, which is important and they can offer enhanced care and advanced life support in emergency situations. Having that cover there would ultimately contribute towards saving lives and achieving better outcomes for patients. They could administer various medications to treat different illnesses before a patient arrived at hospital, and time is obviously crucial in a lot of emergency situations. Tuam ambulance base is equipped to cater for a rapid response vehicle. There are advanced paramedics in the area who can operate it. This would allow them to support paramedic crews in the various ambulance bases across the region and not just Tuam, because Tuam is at the centre of a very wide region where these vehicles are not operating around the clock. It could provide cover in counties Mayo and Roscommon as well. The National Ambulance Service has informed me that provision of such a vehicle would have to be included in the HSE national service plan for it to be considered. There is a very strong case here on the basis of patients safety, ensuring better outcomes for people and ultimately saving lives. I ask the Minister of State to outline whether this is something that will be considered.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, I thank Deputy O'Hara for the opportunity to respond on the topic of a 24-hour NAS rapid response vehicle at Tuam ambulance base. I assure Deputies the Government remains absolutely committed to investing in increasing capacity in our National Ambulance Service. The NAS allocation for 2025 includes €8 million for new service developments to provide up to 180 additional staff. This investment is focused on the provision of additional front-line emergency ambulance capacity, further expansion of NAS alternative care pathways and growing specialist service capacity, including critical care retrieval and aeromedical services. Continuous increases in Government investment in the NAS has raised total NAS staffing at the end of October 2025 to 2,486. This represents an overall growth in staff of 558 or 29% since 2020, of which over 85% are engaged in direct patient care roles. In response to the specific matter raised by the Deputy, I am aware this matter has been raised by him previously several times. In fairness to the Deputy, I was looking today and he has put in several parliamentary questions on this through 2025, so I can see he is very passionate about it. I know from working with the ambulance paramedics that they excel at what they do and they do great work, so it is important we recognise them here. I am informed by the NAS that while there was no provision to consider this in 2025, the HSE will reconsider development of this service as part of the ongoing HSE national service planning process for 2026. This is what I have been told today. In the meantime, I am aware there are two existing 24-7 RRVs operating out of the Merlin Park base in Galway, as well as from Recess and County Roscommon on a dynamic deployment basis. The HSE has also advised that it intends to increase capacity its West and North-West region with an additional NAS helicopter emergency medical service, HEMS, to be established in 2026. This will increase HEMS coverage for patients in the west and north-west of the country and improve access for rural and isolated patients to care. This is about them ultimately. I am also informed an additional 23 paramedics are scheduled to be deployed to the HSE West and North-West region, including in County Galway, this month to provide additional front-line capacity. As Dail colleagues will be aware, patient demand for NAS services continues to rise year-on-year nationally as well as in the HSE West North-West region, including in Tuam and environs. In 2024 there were nearly 430,000 urgent and emergency calls received from the public. This represents an 8% increase nationally on the previous year and urgent and emergency calls received by the NAS have risen by a further 6% to date this year. Despite the significant increase in patient demand, overall ambulance response performance has been largely maintained, both on a national basis and for the NAS west and north-west region. Performance in the year to September in the NAS west and north-west region for life-threatening red calls, which constitute over 95% of all emergency calls received, met the 2025 national service plan target of 45%. I reiterate my sincere gratitude to all NAS staff and all our ambulance services across the country, including in County Galway, for their continued commitment and dedication to patient care.

I welcome the commitment to consider this as part of the service planning process for 2026. I sincerely hope it is implemented. I also want to express my gratitude to the staff of the NAS but if we want to demonstrate our gratitude, we need to consider the level of pressure these crews are under and do everything we can to alleviate that and ensure a better service and better outcomes for patients, which is what it is all about. I urge the Minister of State and the National Ambulance Service to engage with staff in Tuam around this issue. They know better than anybody what the situation is like on the ground and what could improve it. I raise this issue on their behalf today. Ultimately, this is about better outcomes for people and saving lives. It deserves to be fully considered and I hope it is. We have had reports carried out into ambulance bases like Loughglynn, County Roscommon, which examined in detail the situation, level of calls and so on. Specific service improvements were implemented after that. That could be considered for Tuam as well, to take an in-depth look at the situation and what improvements could make a difference. I welcome the Minister of State's comments that this will be examined as part of the process for next year. We will wait and see what comes out of that. I hope it is a positive outcome.

I was looking back through the Deputy's parliamentary questions and, in fairness, he is working with ambulance paramedics on the great work they do. I know the Deputy will be committed to doing this. This will be looked at in 2026. I thank the Deputy for highlighting it. It is important we recognise the work ambulance paramedics do around the country. They do great work. The Government remains committed to investing in increasing capacity in our National Ambulance Service for patients in County Galway and across the country. In my opening statement, I focused on NAS front-line emergency response activity and developments in the west of the country. I will now reference the NAS's ongoing programme of strategic reform. Supported by sustained Government investment, the NAS is continuing to increase its capabilities and capacity to treat increasing numbers of patients at the most appropriate level of clinical need, including in their homes and communities. The Deputy will be aware it is important we do this. The NAS reform initiatives will better place the service to meet the demands of the rapidly growing and ageing population we have. Funding for new service developments this year will support further expansion and alternative care pathways designed to reduce the number of patients presenting at hospital emergency departments where there is no clinical requirement. In the first six months of 2025, nearly 30,000 patients were treated through the NAS alternative care pathway, with 40% of those patients not subsequently requiring to go into emergency departments. I acknowledge the professionalism and dedication of our workers and the vital service they provide for everybody.