Two control centres – the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) – cover emergency call-outs for Dublin city and county despite both operating different IT platforms and with neither call centre currently capable of viewing the other’s calls or available ambulance resources.
Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane warned that, eight years after the expert report was compiled, key recommendations have still not been implemented.
“The Brady-Flaherty report examined the governance and financing of the ambulance service in Dublin,” he said.
“The report described the governance and financing of ambulance services in Dublin as problematic and insufficiently funded.
“The NAS has published a comprehensive capacity review setting out the need to double ambulance service capacity to meet demand. The ambulance service is currently under-resourced and does not have the capacity to meet its own targets.
“I discussed these issues with management of the Dublin Fire Brigade at a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee.
“They assured me that since completion of the report, collaboration between the NAS and DFB has improved with revised arrangements in place.”
But he warned that, despite this, several important issues have not been tackled.
“Key recommendations in the Brady-Flaherty report have not been implemented. The departments of local government and health should clearly set out what the long-term plan for the Dublin Ambulance Service is, what the status of the Brady-Flaherty report is and how they will further invest in capacity to ensure that the service has the resources and personnel it needs.”
Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) reports in both 2012 and 2014 also highlighted issues over the existing ambulance control centre structure.
Hiqa paid tribute to the NAS for moving from six different control centres with different computer-aid dispatch systems to a single national centre.
However, two call centres still operate, covering Dublin city and county.
The report identified a potential serious risk to the people of Dublin with two ambulance control centres receiving emergency ambulance calls, leading to potential delays in responding to calls as well as possible duplication of calls.
DFB, under the auspices of Dublin City Council (DCC), handles ambulance call-outs for the majority of Dublin city.
The NAS deals with suburban Dublin, Dublin county as well as Dún Laoghaire and the rest of Ireland.
The Department of Health insisted action was being taken on the recommendations of the 2016 report.
“The review recommended that all emergency ambulance control and dispatch for the Dublin area should be located and operated from the HSE NAS, National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) in Tallaght,” a spokesperson said.
“A joint DCC/HSE chaired Task and Finish Group was established in late 2022 to identify an effective ambulance service delivery model for Dublin.
“As a result, a number of actions are being taken collaboratively between HSE and DCC to improve the ambulance service delivery model in Dublin.”
