In the public health service, Health Service Executive (HSE) Areas provide ambulance services to transport people who are seriously ill to hospital, or between hospitals. Ambulance services are part of the emergency services and can be contacted by telephoning 999 or 112.
The National Ambulance Services operates from over 100 locations throughout Ireland. In 2016 we responded to:
- 343,000 ambulance calls
- Transported 44,000 Intermediate Care patients
- Co-ordinated and dispatched more than 800 Aero Medical / Air Ambulance calls
- Completed 600 Paediatric and Neonatal retrievals
- And continues to support and develop Community First Responder schemes
It is important to note that the NAS operates on a national and area basis as opposed to a local basis. Resources are dynamically deployed which means resources are deployed to areas to provide cover or to respond to incidents as they arise.
EMERGENCY CARE:
Pre-hospital emergency care is delivered by our Advanced Paramedics and Paramedics in emergency ambulances, rapid response vehicles and emergency motorcycles.
An Emergency Ambulance is staffed by Advanced Paramedics and/or Paramedics and is equipped to treat and transport patients to the nearest appropriate emergency department, maternity unit or specialist centre.
A Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) is staffed by one Paramedic or Advanced Paramedic. The vehicle is equipped with all of the emergency equipment carried by an Emergency Ambulance and can be dispatched to incidents in order to commence treatment while an emergency ambulance is en route.
The Emergency Motorcycle Response Unit is based in Dublin and is comprehensively equipped to deal with emergency situations while being able to quickly get to patients while an emergency ambulance is en-route .
