High-response ambulance services planned for Mid-West

HIGHLY-TRAINED ambulance teams are to be deployed in the Mid-West to improve response times to accident and emergency calls.

It is a key element in a major upgrade plan unveiled yesterday which will see an initial investment of 22 million to improve the region's ambulance service.

The Mid-West has been chosen as a test for the new red-alert strategy. As part of a review of the service, new ambulance bases will be established at Kilmallock and Shannon. The current ambulance infrastructure consists of a headquarters facility at Dooradoyle with control room and training centre, and three further ambulance stations in Limerick, three in Tipperary and four in Clare.

A key element of the plan is a new training programme involving existing ambulance personnel which will lead to the appointment of 34 new Emergency Medical Technical (EMT) Advanced personnel.

"These new EMT-Advanced posts will involve paramedical training and the intention is that these new staff will be deployed throughout the region in new emergency response vehicles. The training of these staff has already commenced," a Health Service Executive (HSE) Mid-West spokesman said.

The plan has been drawn up in response to the publication in 2003 of the National Task Force on Medical Staffing (Hanly Report). The report designated the HSE Mid-West as one of two pilot areas for early implementation of revised arrangements to manage acute hospital and ambulance services.

"The review of the current ambulance service identified deficits in terms of both staff levels and service infrastructure which must be addressed as a first step," the spokesman added.

The improved service will lead to the creation of an additional 38 posts.

Appropriate development of the ambulance service in the Mid-West, said the spokesman, is a necessary first step in upgrading acute hospital arrangements.

"The costs are significant but must be considered in terms of the overall implementation of revised hospital services in this country and the future extended role of a pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance service," he said.