Heart attack man dies yards from hospital

AN elderly man who suffered a heart attack just 500 yards from Monaghan Hospital died as ambulance staff were forced to rush him to Cavan Hospital 45 miles away.

Benny McCullagh, who became ill at his home at Rope Walk, Kilnacloy, at 1.11pm on Tuesday, had to be taken on a half-hour trip to Cavan because North Eastern Health Board guidelines meant he couldn’t be treated in Monaghan.

Having responded to an emergency call, two ambulances arrived within four minutes and managed to resuscitate Mr McCullagh.

But because patients who arrive at Monaghan by ambulance cannot be admitted, both ambulances were forced to divert to Cavan, passing the front gates of Monaghan Hospital.

The 72-year-old’s family were told by ambulance crews a doctor would meet them on the way to Cavan.

But Mr McCullagh was dead on arrival in Cavan, 31 minutes after the ambulance left Monaghan.

Ironically, Mr McCullagh would have been treated in Monaghan if he had been taken by taxi or private car.

Monaghan GP Ilona Duffy, a member of the Monaghan hospital retention committee, said doctors advise people to try and get patients to Monaghan hospital on their own.

“If, as a GP, I tell an ambulance crew to take a patient to Monaghan hospital, they have to contact their head quarters who then contact Monaghan hospital to find a doctor who will accept the patient ... All this takes time inside the so-called ‘golden hour’ and yet in Monaghan, we have one of the best cardio units, but because of the lack of anaesthetists, patients are not treated.”

A health board statement last night extended sympathies to the McCullaghs but said the board was satisfied with the way the emergency had been handled.