Patient Transport
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-14
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

I welcome the opportunity to address the House, on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on the Deputy's request for information on the Wexford patient transport service and the difficulties his constituents have encountered in contacting Wexford General Hospital's patient transport office.
By way of general background, the Minister is informed by the HSE that the patient transport service, which provides non-emergency patient transport for qualifying patients in the south-east region, was set up in 2013 on a discretionary basis by the HSE. The Minister is also informed that hospitals in the south-east region are allocated an annual budget to provide limited transport for qualifying patients to attend appointments and other acute services. I understand that Wexford General Hospital has a total budget under its control for all patient transport costs in 2025 of €1.56 million, which includes ambulance transportation for inpatients, taxis and non-emergency patient transport services. For patients who require the non-emergency patient transport services in order to attend outpatient appointments, there is an application process involved whereby patients are obliged to provide information pertaining to their medical card holder status and their mobility status, including details concerning any medical conditions that prevent them accessing public or private transport. Applications are then countersigned by patients' hospital consultants. Wexford General Hospital generally asks for two weeks' notice of appointments that will involve the arrangement of transport for patients, but it will always attempt to accommodate patient requests at short notice, where possible.
On the Deputy's specific inquiry concerning difficulties in making contact with the Wexford patient transport service, the Minister for Health is informed that there exists within Wexford General Hospital a dedicated office for the administration and support of non-emergency patient transport serving three hospitals in the south east, namely Wexford General Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny and South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel.
The Minister understands from the HSE, that the National Ambulance Service, NAS, provided temporary support to Wexford General Hospital for a period to assist with co-ordinating the delivery of this service, but that this limited arrangement ceased in December 2023. The Minister is informed that Wexford General Hospital has continued to staff its patient transport office on a rotational basis with available staff. Despite significant efforts taken by Wexford General Hospital to ensure continued delivery of the non-emergency patient transport service, the Minister is informed by the HSE that this temporary rotational staffing arrangement has resulted in some short-term service disruptions. In response to these challenges, the Minister is assured that engagement is ongoing in the HSE involving the integrated healthcare area managers and the relevant hospitals in the region to develop a more sustainable staffing solution for the service.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-14