Campaign to oppose ambulance cuts grows

THE only ambulance available in west Cork last Friday night was stationed in Castletownbere, 85km from where 470 people gathered at a public meeting opposing cuts to the service.

The revelation drew gasps from a crowd that packed the 320-seat capacity function room at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen, where there was standing room only for a further 150.

The stark reality of an already strained service meant that any emergency requiring an ambulance in Skibbereen at 8pm on Friday night was facing a wait of almost two hours.

Skibbereen Mayor Frank Fahy recalled a fatal accident on the N71 last April involving 12 people travelling in two cars in a head-on collision at Rosscarbery. Sanghita Das, from Kolkata, India, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It is tragically clear that if the sixth casualty had not died at the scene, there would have been no ambulance for her. It was only chance rather than good management that those ambulances were available at the time,” Mr Fahy said.

The proposals to cut 24-hour ambulance cover in parts of the Health Service Executive (HSE) south region follow a Labour Court ruling on the on-call allowance in the ambulance service. The HSE plans to remove ambulance cover from Skibbereen and Castletownbere between 8pm and 8am, to be replaced by two rapid response vehicles.

In the second phase, the HSE plans to restore 24-hour ambulance cover to Castletownbere, but not to Skibbereen.

The current national ratio of people serviced by each ambulance nationwide is 37,000, Mr Fahy said.

If HSE proposals are introduced, the ratio jumps to 58,000 people dependent on one ambulance in west Cork, the “most geographically diverse region in the country”.

Remote peninsular locations including Kilcrohane, the Mizen, Sheep’s Head and Beara along with the islands will suffer acutely, Mr Fahy said.

Ed Harper from Cape Clear said it takes 45 minutes to reach the mainland. “Any delays in an ambulance arriving could be disastrous,” he said.

Cllr John O’Sullivan from Timoleague, a member of the Regional Health Forum urged people to build a strong case against the cuts in a “language the HSE can understand”.

After an invitation by Mr Fahy to establish a working committee to oppose the HSE proposals, 27 attendees put their names forward.

A petition was signed by 632 people and a Facebook page has been established to mobilise support against the cuts, due to be introduced in 12 months time.

Fifteen minutes after Mr Fahy’s announcement, the ambulance at Castletownbere was called out on a 999 emergency leaving the region with no available ambulance cover.

“We won’t be made fools of by mindless actions of HSE management putting our lives and our families lives in danger,” he said.