No savings from transfer of part of Dublin ambulance service to HSE

No money will be saved by the transfer to the Health Service Executive (HSE) of parts of the ambulance service operated by Dublin Fire Brigade, Dublin City Council has said.

A report from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) last December recommended that a new central control centre for the city’s ambulance service be set up to address inefficiencies.

City council chief executive Owen Keegan earlier this month announced that the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service call-and-dispatch function would be transferred to the control of the HSE at the National Control Centre in Tallaght.

Unions representing firefighter paramedics and other fire-brigade staff warned of industrial action in protest over the plans, which they said were being initiated without consultation.

Forum

Assistant council chief executive Brendan Kenny yesterday told the council's emergency services committee that Siptu and Impact had agreed to participate in a forum over the next six months "to tease out the issues" involved in the transfer of the call centre to the HSE.

However, he said he wanted to clarify that Dublin Fire Brigade was “not getting out” of the ambulance service.

“It is not intended to take the ambulance service from Dublin Fire Brigade . . . This is not about making savings. In fact, there will probably be a cost [for the transfer],” Mr Kenny said. “No staff will lose their jobs and there will be no reduction in services in Dublin.”

Prior to January 2015, Dublin Fire Brigade and the National Ambulance Service shared a control centre in Townsend Street, although both sets of staff worked independently and used different IT systems.

In January 2015, the ambulance staff moved to the National Control Centre.

Separately, Siptu firefighters are to ballot for industrial action in a dispute over Government plans to reduce the crew numbers on fire appliances.