Garda drove ambulance as medic tended to injured child

A garda had to drive an ambulance with an injured child to hospital last week because of a shortage of paramedic staff on duty.

The Meath garda was forced to take the wheel as the only paramedic on board tended to the patient.

The shocking incident occurred near Dunsany, Co Meath, when a car containing three children and a woman veered off the road and plummeted down a 10m drop before hitting a tree.

Four ambulances attended the scene of the accident, near an old canal bridge, at about 4pm last Sunday.

However, one of the vehicles was manned by only one crew member. His partner had to go home sick earlier that day and there was no one to cover his shift.

The Trim-based garda stepped in at the request of paramedics and drove the injured child to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin.

All occupants of the car received treatment at the scene but it’s believed none suffered serious injuries in the crash.

An almost identical incident occurred in Donegal last December when a garda drove an ambulance while the paramedic had to attend to a patient in the back.

In a statement the HSE said: “The National Ambulance Service confirms that four ambulances were dispatched to a road traffic accident. One ambulance had one crew member as the other rostered member of staff was unexpectedly sick.”

It continued: “Members of An Garda Síochána are authorised to drive any vehicles deemed necessary in the performance of their duties.

“Exceptional and rare occasions do occur whereby two or more paramedics/advanced paramedics or in some cases, a sole responder, are required to treat a patient in an emergency ambulance.

“In these exceptional and rare circumstances, members of the emergency services on the scene, including An Garda Síochána, where capable of doing so, are authorised by the HSE to drive national ambulance service vehicles.”

However, local Cllr Noel Leonard blamed the stringent cutbacks for the incident adding: “It’s about time we started putting lives first.”

He said: “It’s a terrible situation and one that should not have happened. The HSE does not say why there was no one on standby to cover a paramedic in case they get sick or have to leave duty suddenly.

“I believe it’s about cost-saving on rostering and it’s very lucky that there was a garda able to step in and effectively save the day.”