David Hall-owned ambulance service Lifeline in rude health

Lifeline, the private ambulance operator service owned by businessman David Hall, reported a €101,231 profit for the 12 months ending June 2015. This compares to a €436,412 loss the previous year, newly-filed abridged accounts show.

The company, recently involved in a high-profile court action involving employees, had net assets of €106,794, as against just €5,563 a year earlier.

Turnover rose to €4.3 million as against €4.1 million the year before, having halved between 2008 and 2014.

Established by David Hall in 1998, Lifeline is the largest private ambulance operator in the State with a fleet of 49 vehicles. Based in Leixlip, Co Kildare, the company employs 66 people.

Mr Hall is also founder of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO), which last year helped over 2,500 people to come to an arrangement with lenders over their debts.

HSE contract

Lifeline has a framework agreement with the Health Services Executive (HSE) through a service level contract for patient transport services. However, the company has previously taken legal proceedings against the HSE for alleged breaches of the agreement and Mr Hall told The Irish Times that additional proceedings were currently "on hold".

Mr Hall said the return to profitability was partly due to better compliance with the Lifeline contract by the HSE.

“We won the tender to be the number-one provider nationally and that contract hasn’t been adhered too and, while it is not being fully complied with, there has been an improvement. If we don’t see further improvement though we will end up back in court,” he said.

“The need to injunct the HSE to comply with the contract is currently under review, as is seeking to recover monies not given under it, which were given to third parties.”

Mr Hall added that the turnaround was also due to him being back at the helm again. “I’m back running Lifeline again after being more focused on the mortgage stuff over the last couple of years, “ he said. “There has been a restructuring of the company and a better focus on how it is being run that has involved us looking at our cost base and so on.”

Mr Hall and his wife Susan Wiseman Hall are listed as directors of Lifeline. Directors' emoluments for the year ending June 2015 totalled €209,966, down from €217,817 a year earlier.

The accounts show Mr Hall previously provided a guarantee to the value of €377,000 for the company’s banking facilities.

Lifeline operates from a premises owned by Mr Hall, paying him rent in the year to the end of June 2015 of €116,379.

Future viability

The latest set of accounts said restrictive practices in the sector, the state of the economy and a decline in the number of people with private health cover were all concerns that threatened the viability of the company.

However, Mr Hall said that conditions generally had improved over the last year. “All health-related businesses were under pressure for a long time and I wasn’t around. I expect the 2016 accounts will post a higher profit than the 2015 ones. I’m back doing what I think I do well, which is running the business and we’ve acquired an additional 10 ambulances this calendar year and taken on 17 extra staff in the last number of months, so things are going the right way,” he said.

Two managers at Lifeline recently became the first employees in Ireland to win court protection under newly introduced whistleblower legislation.

The Circuit Court ruled late last month that Mick Dougan and Seán Clarke, who were made redundant after accusing Mr Hall of “serious wrongdoing” in a disclosure to the Revenue Commissioners, should continue to be paid until their unfair dismissal case is heard.

The men claimed in affidavits opened in court, that staff were paid mileage expenses in place of taxable pay and alleged they were subjected to bullying and harassment.