Answers needed over ambulance dispatch
Labour Councillor for Swords Duncan Smith and Cork City Local Area Representative Peter Horgan have called for an investigation into reports a Swords based ambulance was dispatched to an emergency in Cork City last year.
Figures released to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act show more than a third of all vehicles that answered emergency calls to the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in Cork county were not based within the area where the emergency arose.
Cllr Smith and Mr Horgan will be asking Labour’s Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD, to raise the issue a matter of urgency with the HSE.
Cllr Smith Said: “As part of the local Community First Responders group in Swords, I am aware of the pressures on the local HSE ambulance service having to service Meath, Louth and sometimes Cavan or Monaghan but I have never heard of an ambulance from Swords having to be sent to Cork, a county with such a major population centre of its own.
“It is incredibly worrying to see just how stretched the ambulance services are across the country. A fast response time by trained paramedics can be the difference between life and death and resources need to be allocated in this area,” concluded Cllr Smith.
“We expect the HSE to manage the National Ambulance Service effectively,” added Mr Horgan.
“For something like this to happen not only undermines public confidence in the health system overall, it makes a mockery of those at the frontline working as trained paramedics in the ambulanceservice”, Mr Horgan concluded.
ENDS
Contact Cllr Duncan Smith 087 986 2686/ Peter Horgan 083 103 3009