Local TD and Sinn Fein Spokesperson for Health, David Cullinane has voiced concerns on ambulance capacity in the South East / South West of the country.
Deputy Cullinane was involved in a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee and the National Ambulance Service in recent days.
Fellow Sinn Fein TDs Kathleen Funchion, Johnny Mythen and Martin Browne also in attendance.
Speaking to WLR, the Waterford TD said the conditions for paramedics at present are 'difficult'.
"There are problems in relation to response times which are not what they should be - particularly for emergencies. We also have real challenges for ambulance paramedics in relation to burnout. There's issues in relation to access to breaks, late callouts at the end of shifts. Ambulances are then being sent from one end of the country to the other. There's just general capacity problems."
Staffing
Deputy Cullinane called for a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee on the matter. He noted that there is a review underway at present to see how much additional staff may be required.
"It is evident that there is a real difficulty across the State. We had a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee at my request. We had the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in. They accepted that there is capacity problems. There is a review underway at the moment to see what additional staff is needed. This is both in terms of paramedics but also in terms of fleet and capital funding for bases and deployment centres. It was also noted that there are geographical inequalities as well."
South East
The Sinn Fein representative acknowledged that while there are difficulties across the board in Ireland, the situation is particularly exacerbated in the South East.
"While there are problems right across the state in relation to the National Ambulance Service, there are particular problems and challenges in the South East and South West. That's down to not having enough paramedics, not having enough investment in the bases that we need - but also, the response times are slightly under the national average in some of the areas as well. What I want to do is make sure, that when there is a capacity review completed - and I met with the Director of the National Ambulance Service and made this point very robustly, and forcibly - we need to get our fair share here in Waterford, and the South East."
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