Takeoff: Flying doctor service moves step closer

PLANS to set up a flying doctor service in west Cork have taken off.

The Government has just announced funding to help establish a rapid response medical ground team, which will most likely be based in or around Bantry.

An air ambulance service cannot operate properly without this highly trained team on the ground. The team will comprise emergency and trauma medicine experts, backed up by GPs.

Using a high-speed emergency response vehicle, they will be the first on the scene of major accidents.

They will be responsible for stabilising casualties on scene before handing them over to ambulance crews for transfer to hospital.

However, once the air ambulance service is established, this expert team will be able to hand casualties over to the air ambulance for a flight to hospital. It can take up to three hours to travel by road from islands off west Cork. It takes less than 45 minutes by air.

The decision by Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuív to fund the ground team was welcomed last night by Councillor John O’Shea of the West Cork Air Ambulance group.

The group, backed by the Health Service Executive and emergency medicine doctors at Cork University Hospital, was set up last year to develop a flying doctor service for west Cork. It has been meeting regularly to plan the service and it had ordered the ground team’s vehicle, pending funding.

Mr O’Shea said he was delighted when Mr Ó Cuív confirmed his department will fund 80% of the costs of the ground team — the equivalent of €68,000.

The rest will be raised locally through fundraising.

“The logistics and management structure for the ground team is already in place and we would hope to have it up and running by Christmas,” the Bantry-based Fine Gael councillor said.

“Realistically, it could be another few years before the air ambulance is in operation. But this is a huge step forward.” The West Cork Air Ambulance Service has considered using a fixed-wing aircraft and has identified a number of possible airstrip bases between Skibbereen and Bantry.

However, the group has also considered using a helicopter which would allow landings on the islands as well.

Two experienced pilots Seán Mulqueen and John Kearney, of the Baltimore Diving School, have volunteered to fly the aircraft.

Skibbereen-based Dr Pat Bailey, a member of the voluntary group, has said that getting people to hospital quickly was vital.

“The general rule is that for someone with a severe injury the ‘golden hour’ or the first hour is most important,” he said.

The flying doctor service, he said, would be of particular benefit to people who had suffered heart attacks or serious injuries in road traffic accidents. Coastguard helicopters are based in Dublin, Shannon, Waterford and Sligo for emergencies, but there is none in Cork.

Having an airplane or helicopter solely available for the people of west Cork would cut the travel time by more than half and accessibility to the islands would be greatly increased.