People living in County Roscommon are now further away from a fully functioning A&E than those living in any other county according to an analysis by NUI Maynooth’s National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis.
Responding to the analysis, local TD Denis Naughten said it clearly shows how important the A&E at Roscommon Hospital was to the people of County Roscommon.
“It again highlights the fact that Roscommon Hospital was in a unique geographic position, so far away from other A&Es, yet this fact was ignored when our casualty department was forced to lock its doors last July,” said Deputy Naughten.
The average journey time to an A&E department for the whole of County Roscommon is 40 minutes, but in many areas that journey time is closer to an hour including Castleplunkett at 56 minutes; Castlerea at 54 minutes; Tulsk, Ballymoe, and Strokestown at 53 minutes; Elphin at 48 minutes; and Frenchpark at 47 minutes.
“These figures only record the average journey time from a person’s home to the nearest A&E. It fails to calculate the time delay in the ambulance actually arriving at the person’s home in the first place. As a result the study clearly highlights the urgent need for a fully operational ambulance base in West Roscommon, which is being badly serviced at present,” added Deputy Naughten.
The mapping tool is available at www.airo.ie
