Appointments and Reappointments to the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD has re-appointed/appointed the following members to the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council:

Don Brennan

Mr. Don Brennan is appointed on the nomination of SIPTU to the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council. The appointment is from 16th December 2020 to 15th December 2024.

Don Brennan joined the North Western Health Board Ambulance Service in 2003. He completed a DipEMT and qualified as an EMT in 2004. He has since completed a post graduate diploma in Emergency Medical Science from UCD. In his career with the National Ambulance Service he has worked as an Emergency Medical Technician, an Emergency Medical Controller, a Paramedic, an Advanced Paramedic and most recently as an Advanced Paramedic Supervisor. He has worked in a number of locations across the Western Division and is currently stationed in Letterkenny. Don has been an active member of SIPTU throughout his time in the Ambulance Service and is the Chief Shop Steward in the North West and represents his colleagues on the Irish Ambulance Representative Council.

Patrick Fleming

Mr Fleming is re-appointed to the Council from 16th December 2020 to 15th December 2024. He was originally appointed to the council following a Public Appointments Service process.

Patrick Fleming is the former Chief Fire Officer of Dublin Fire Brigade and Emergency Ambulance Service. He has extensive experience of policy development, implementation and management in the public service at both central and local government levels. Patrick served in Limerick City Fire Brigade as Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Acting Chief Fire Office and also has also held the position of Assistant Fire Advisor in the Fire Services and Emergency Planning Section of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with particular responsibility for the national Computer Aided Mobilisation Project and industrial relations/human resources issues. He was also technical advisor to the Fire Service Council and was responsible for the development of policy and the delivery of national training courses. Patrick has worked on secondment at the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management with particular responsibility for fire and emergency management, operational guidance and standards.

Patrick is a Chartered Engineer and has an honours degree in Civil Engineering from University College Galway, an M Eng Sc degree from University College Dublin and an MBA from the University of Limerick.

Dr David Menzies

Dr David Menzies is re-appointed to the Council from 16th December 2020 to 15th December 2024. He was originally appointed to the council following a Public Appointments Service process.

Dr David Menzies is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. He is the Director of the Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance Service (MICAS) and the Clinical Lead for the Central Trauma Network.

In addition to the above, David has been involved in prehospital emergency care for over 15 years. David is currently the Medical Director of the Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team and Motor Sport Rescue Services/MCI Medical Team. He voluntarily responds to emergency prehospital calls on behalf of the National Ambulance Service with Wicklow Rapid Response and is a director of CFR Ireland, the national CFR network, having been a founding member of Bray Cardiac First Responders.

Mr Hillery Collins

Mr Hillery Collins is re-appointed on the nomination of SIPTU to the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council. The re-appointment is from 16th December 2020 to 15th December 2024.

Hillery Collins has been involved in pre-hospital care for over 30yrs. He has served on the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council for 4 years and has been actively involved on its committees to help improve both patient care and professional practice standards.

Hillery has been involved in direct patient care on a full-time basis for 25years. He went into full-time prehospital care over 20 years ago and is currently working as a Paramedic Supervisor for the HSE/ National Ambulance Service. He is Joint Chairperson of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team and Chairs the Committee for CISM for Community First Responders (CFRs) who are deployed by the National Ambulance Service.

Hillery works as a representative for SIPTU at Local and National level. He is currently Chairperson of the Irish Ambulance Representative Council and in this role has helped to improve terms and conditions for members in the National Ambulance Service. The achievements in this role include increased staffing levels and being involved in the introduction of policies to help improve staff welfare.

Hillery is involved with volunteering in prehospital care with the Order of Malta and very much believes in the values of Sláintecare: the right care to the right patient in the right place.

Hillery has recently concluded a BSc in Paramedic Studies at the University of Limerick.

Fiona McDaid

Ms McDaid is re-appointed to the Council from 16th December 2020 to 15th December 2024. She was originally appointed to the council following a Public Appointments Service process.

Fiona has been an emergency nurse for over 30 years, working in Emergency Departments in the UK and Ireland at staff nurse and clinical nurse manager levels. Fiona’s current role is Nurse Lead for the National Clinical Care Programme for Emergency Medicine (EMP). This role has a national remit focussing on the implementation of the EMP Model of Care published in 2012 and Emergency Care related projects. Fiona represents emergency nursing on a number of national fora and boards in Ireland and the UK. Fiona has presented both nationally and internationally on a range of emergency nursing topics and has co-authored a number of publications.

Fiona graduated from the Health Service Leadership Academy Leading Care I Award and the IMI Graduate Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership Programme in early 2019 and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Dr Jacqueline Burke

Dr Burke is re-appointed as Chairperson to the Council from 16th December 2020 to 15th December 2024. She was originally appointed to the council following a Public Appointments Service process.

Dr Jacqueline Burke’s clinical nursing experience spans almost 15 years and is diverse, encompassing coronary care, intensive care, accident and emergency, medical, surgical and mixed clinical areas. She ultimately specialised in Coronary Care Nursing in St Vincent's University Hospital.

Prior to working in UCD in 2002 Jacqueline had nearly 10-years’ experience in pre-registration nurse-education also in St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin. As a member of the National Implementation Committee for Pre-Registration Nurse Education, Jacqueline was actively involved in the implementation of the pre-registration degree nurse education programme nationally and in the advancement of the Centres of Nurse Education.

From 2007-2012 she served as an elected member of An Bord Altranais (ABA) (Now Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland), was a member of ABA's Education and Training, Finance and General Purpose and Ethics Committee. She is still a member of the 1985 Act ABA Fitness to Practice Committee.

Jacqueline also served as an appointed member of the National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery for ten years and was a member of the Working Group of European Nurse Researchers (WENR) until it was inactivated in 2011.

Jacqueline has had a life-long interest in improving survival for cardiac arrest and was a member of the Irish Heart Foundation's National BLS Technical Committee and has serve on National Faculty for many years. Currently she is Director of the UCD Graduate Diploma Nursing: Critical Care (Cardiovascular) programme and her teaching and clinical practice interest areas are cardiovascular nursing, cardiac arrest management and nursing theory specifically the standardised nursing languages NANDA-I NIC and NOC.