Many of us often raise issues with and concerns about our health system. I for one do not have high expectations when it comes to certain areas in health. We raise concerns, whether it is about cancer care or medications for rare diseases. Last Thursday, I had first-hand experience of the health system. On my way back from Dublin, my dad rang me and said he was not feeling great, his blood pressure had been over 220 all day and he needed to ring an ambulance. I told him I was still on the road and would not get to him on time. He said that was fine and he would ring an ambulance. I arrived close to 7 p.m., thinking he would not still be at home. A community first responder was there and did an amazing job. He continued to take my dad's vitals and rang the ambulance service four times while I was there. The ambulance was first called at 6.10 p.m. and it arrived at 8.30 p.m. Amazing paramedics in the ambulance crew took really good care of my dad and decided he needed to go into the hospital to be monitored because his blood pressure was still not coming down.

The paramedic in the ambulance asked to speak to me for a moment because he recognised who I was. He told me not to worry, it was not a medical issue and he just needed to have a word. He told me the call came in at 6.10 p.m. and it was now 8.30 p.m. He said the crew was not allowed to leave the ambulance base until a shift change had been completed as the crew coming out to us had to be the night shift. He said my father was a category 1, meaning it should take a maximum of 19 minutes for an ambulance to get to him. He said that if it had been a stroke or heart attack, my father would either be going out in a body bag or with irreversible damage done. He said the system the staff work under is stopping them from doing their job correctly. That is what he asked me to raise - the systems staff are working under. The crew wanted to get to us and were ready to leave but they were not allowed to because of a shift change.

That is absolutely ridiculous. We were lucky that he was fine and it was not a heart attack or stroke, but what about the next person or neighbour down the road or somebody who is having a heart attack or stroke? To wait for more than two hours and 20 minutes for an ambulance is absolutely crazy when the ambulance station is 15 minutes away. People are sitting there, waiting. We need to have a serious conversation about what is happening and how the systems are preventing our paramedics and hospital staff from working. It is through no fault of their own. They are amazing workers. The treatment and care they give is out of this world, but the systems behind them are stopping them from doing the vital work they want to do.

I thank Senator Collins for raising that issue which happened to her father but is obviously something that can happen to anyone at any time, particularly in relation to a shift change issue. Time might be limited in terms of having a debate but the Senator may wish to put in a Commencement matter, work with the Seanad Office on the phrasing of it and ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to come to the Seanad for that particular topic.