Ambulance service will not be cut, insists HSE

SENIOR HSE officials have insisted there will be “absolutely no cutbacks” to ambulance services in Cork and Kerry — despite plans to cut on-call hours, reduce ambulance numbers and place an emphasis on first responder volunteers in rural communities.

Speaking during an at-times fractious media briefing on new plans for the service in the region, HSE national ambulance director Robert Morton said repeated claims the quality of care provided is under threat, are wide of the mark.

Under plans announced by Mr Morton, HSE Cork area manager Ger Reaney and HSE South area operations manager Nicky Glynn, the senior official confirmed that from the end of next year, ambulance crew will no longer work on-call hours.

Until now, stations in rural areas were covered from 8pm until 8am by local on-call crew, who would travel from their homes nearby in the event of an emergency.

Under new plans, this system will be replaced with non-ambulance emergency response vehicles which will be placed in the general region, meaning they will not be tied down to a particular base. The number of ambulances in the Cork and Kerry region will also be reduced, from 18 currently in the city and counties to a post-change total of 12.

The six remaining vehicles will be ambulance responsecars — which cost €97,000 compared to €200,000 for ambulances — which the HSE said will offer the same standard of service because “paramedics not the ambulances themselves save lives”.

In order to meet Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) requirements for responding to call-outs, HSE officials will also place an increased emphasis on “hundreds” of volunteer first responders in the region. They will be trained in CPR and covered by the State Claims Agency in the event of a legal issue occurring.

The plan — which will be introduced over a phased basis next year, starting with north and east Cork in the first months of 2012 — also calls for advanced paramedics to no longer travel with patients who are being transferred from one facility to another in a non-emergency situation.

In the event of a major emergency incident, such as a serious road accident, ambulances from other parts of the country will be “leapfrogged” to assist with the areas they would not normally cover, supported at this time with nearby units. The HSE expects to be able to find the extra manpower needed for the plan by re-assigning up to 21 staff.

Detailing the reason for the changes, Mr Morton said the reality is that HIQA standards of an eight-minute response time to emergency cases are not being met in Cork and Kerry.

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