Ambulances in the Galway area that need to be repaired have to be taken to Limerick as there is no authorised dealer to fix them locally, the HSE’s Regional Health Forum was told this week.
The matter was raised by Galway city councillor Shane Forde who said that ambulances which are built on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis and which had mechanical issues repaired in Galway, but that this is no longer the case.
“I am now led to believe that they now must be collected and brought to Limerick, Sligo or Offaly. How much extra is this costing the HSE and could it be the case that at any such time Galway is left short an ambulance cover while we wait on back-up from Limerick,” he asked.
“I cannot believe there is no Merc dealership to deal with a good contract from the HSE regarding ambulance repairs. It seems crazy. They were historically always repaired here and now they are not.”
In his reply, JJ McGowan, Chief Ambulance Officer - West told the forum that as National Ambulance Service Emergency Ambulances are built on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis, in order to maintain the inspection and warranty work, these vehicles are repaired at authorised Mercedes dealers.
“The approved garage in Galway which had been used by NAS is no longer in a position to carry out repairs on our vehicles.
“As an alternative Mercedes Ireland/MDL are trying to sign a repair contract with another garage in the Galway area.
Mr McGowan added that in order to keep the fleet in the Galway region mobile, Mercedes Garages in Sligo, Cork, Offaly and Limerick has been asked to repair additional NAS vehicles from the Galway catchment area.He added that a number of resilience emergency ambulances were placed into the Mid-West and West regions to allow for additional repair/travel time of vehicles having to travel further for repair.
The said that the National Ambulance Service NAS is working tirelessly to try to establish an approved garage in the Galway region.
“Should any garage be willing, I would ask that they contact MDL directly to begin the induction process for Mercedes Authorisation,” he concluded.
