Union warning on ambulance safety fears

A LEADING doctors’ union has warned the HSE of safety standard concerns over some private ambulances used to plug health service gaps, just months after a confidential report identified glaring problems in the sector.

In the Irish Hospital Consultants Association’s (IHCA’s) national council annual report, the senior doctors’ representative group confirmed it had recently met with one operator within the sector about the issue.

This individual, the document noted, “advised the association of concerns regarding the standard of private ambulances being hired by the HSE from time to time”.