Five New Ambulances And 27 Staff Announced For Clare

The Iraqis made the West members met today

with the National Ambulance Service.

We were anxious to get clarity on the proposals

that we know have been coming for some time

based on last year's budget and additional resources

being provided to the National Ambulance Service

to improve access to that emergency care,

particularly in the Midwest.

So it's been identified that there will be

a 27-extra ambulance personnel deployed to County Claire.

That will see an increase of five ambulances

and it will be a significant upgrade

of services, particularly in Kil'Rosh and in a Steiman

and in NSI also.

And there's an additional, I think it's eight people

who will be deployed across the entirety of the country.

So that location has yet to be identified.

So all in all, it's a significant investment.

It's a good improvement in the services that we have,

but the demand is growing

and it will require additional financial input again

in 2027 and every year thereafter

to bring the ambulance services in Claire

up to an acceptable standard.

And clearly over recent years,

it has not been at the level that you would want.

We regularly here in our constituency offices

of the delays that people are experiencing

when an ambulance is called in an emergency situation.

So this will go some way towards resolving that,

but by no means is it a complete solution,

it will require additional investment over the years ahead

and together with our colleagues here in the county

that are at a reduced level, we'll continue

to campaign and achieve additional resources

to improve the service.

Just to understand these ambulances and staff

haven't been assigned to a specific location yet,

is that the case?

Well, there will be an additional group of staff

going to Kilrush in a Steinman and Dennis

and there are an additional eight staff in addition to that

that have yet to be determined

to which location they will be deployed.

But you'd like to see the West in particular supported

given the deficit there?

Absolutely.

Of course, we regularly hear situations

where the ambulance in Kilrush

or in a Steinman is maybe taking a patient to Limerick

or wherever and another incident occurs

and the delay is significant

because another ambulance has to be dispatched

or perhaps from Scarif or from Ennis.

And that's putting a further delay

on getting a patient to the hospital

to the right location at the right time.

So the more ambulances that we get right across the county

but in particular, the more outlying areas

that are peripheral to the hospital network,

we need more staff there, we need more ambulances there.

This is a significant improvement in that.

But as I said, it's by no means the entirety of the story,

we need to continue to improve that service over the years

ahead and we will have to continue

to put more resources available to assist those people

who live in the more outlying communities

or are away from the centre of where the general electric is.

Do we have a defined timeline

for the rollout of these additional resources?

Yeah, well, the funding that was put in place

at the budget last year

saw the demand to come into play

from the first to July or the second half of the year onwards.

So it's funded from the first of July

and then it's obviously up to the ambulance service

to put the personnel in place

and put the equipment in place

as soon thereafter as possible.