A serious situation could have been fatal if it weren’t for the goodwill of ambulance personnel in Castlebar. The overstretched service meant that a seriously sick person was left to wait almost half an hour for an ambulance despite falling ill only a short distance from the ambulance headquarters in Castlebar last Friday. If it weren’t for an off duty paramedic, who came to the rescue of the sick person by starting his shift early, the fate of the man could have been a lot worse. However while the man waited for an ambulance to arrive his condition deteriorated rapidly.
The goodwill and support of staff are the only thing keeping the ambulance service afloat in Mayo, according to Castlebar town councillor Ger Deere. Cllr Deere has expressed his concerns over the lack of funding being provided to the HSE’s ambulance service following the incident in the town last Friday.
Representations were made to Cllr Deere and the Health Service Executive regarding the delay in deploying an ambulance to the sick person. However the Fine Gael councillor has been reliably informed that the service is horrendously overstretched.
According to an HSE representative there was no ambulance available to respond to the call which was received at approximately 1pm. The service was down one shift due to sick leave and at present there is no relief staff available to work when someone goes off sick at short notice. The service is totally reliant on the goodwill of crews in covering on an overtime basis, however such are the demands that staff are unable to keep up with the requests.
On Friday, there was only one crew member available to respond to this call but in the interest of patient care and safety it is a requirement of the HSE that two paramedics respond. Were it not for the goodwill of an off-duty paramedic, the emergency call could not have been answered at all as other crews were attending calls in Galway, Charlestown, and Kilkelly at the time.
The HSE has admitted that it is an ever growing problem that there are no ambulances available to respond to calls, a problem which can only be solved by a serious injection of funds.
“It is an unfortunate position for anyone to find themselves left waiting for an ambulance,” Cllr Deere said. “Nonetheless, the reality is that any of us may need an ambulance at any time of the day or night. The main problem is that very little resources appear to be made for inter-hospital transfers and out-patient services.
“If the recent situation on Linenhall Street had taken place in a rural area, the waiting time would have been much greater. Ever since the introduction of one stretcher ambulances, the capacity of HSE ambulances has halved. I commend the staff working for the ambulance service and this is in no manner an attack on them.
“It is in fact the staff of the ambulance service going beyond the call of duty to ensure that some type of normal service can be provided to the public. It is very disappointing to consider the lack of resources they are being provided with. I hope that over this period where budgets are being prepared for the coming year, increased funding will be made available to them.”
No taxi contracts
At present there are no taxi contracts in place to bring patients to hospital appointments. This is further adding to the already over-stretched ambulance service which is expected to carry patients to inter-hospital transfers or out-patient services. If such a service were in place to bring patients to hospital appointments and to transfer patients from one hospital to another, the HSE ambulance service would be freed up to deal with emergency cases.
According to the HSE, when taxis are employed, the service uses a price and availability system whereby the taxi company with the cheapest rates and availability to do the work will be offered the jobs.
Another option for patients who must attend appointments and who are covered by private health insurance is to use the services of private ambulances.
Postcodes
It is believed that the introduction of postcodes will greatly assist paramedics in answering calls. However, it is imperative enough ambulance personnel are employed by the HSE to meet the demand in this county.
