SIPTU representatives working in the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service attended a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children hearing into ambulance response times on Tuesday, 25th February.

The hearing discussed the resourcing of ambulance services in Ireland and those in other jurisdictions to which it is compared.

SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, called for wide ranging review into the operation of the ambulance service and its performance which would include input from the Health Information and Quality Authority.

Glen Ellis, an advanced paramedic with Dublin Fire Brigade, told the Committee, “We face, on a weekly basis, delays of three and four hours outside hospital emergency departments waiting to hand over patients. There can be delays of 10, 14, and even 16 hours because our nursing colleagues in the hospitals are struggling to get beds, which has a knock-on effect on our vehicles being able to leave and attend to life-threatening situations.”