TD: Bring back local ambulance call system

Calls have been made for a return to a local ambulance call-out system following another mix-up involving the new centralised service in Dublin.

A three-week-old baby died while the ambulance called to assist them took 30 minutes to arrive as it was sent to the wrong county.

The son of Sebastian and Katarzyna Chlamtacz, who live in area known as the Tennis Village, in the Killeen Heights Estate, in Tralee, Co Kerry, died in a suspected cot death.

The centralised service in Dublin received a call from the Tralee area at 1.16am, on Tuesday last, and gave the Tennis Village location to help the emergency services reach the infant.

However, due to what is believed to have been a misunderstanding between the caller and the service, an ambulance was instead sent from Cork City to nearby Bishopstown, where there is also a Tennis Village.

After the mistake was realised, the first ambulance arrived at the Tralee location within 30 minutes of the 999 call, according to the HSE. It is not clear if the communications mix-up affected baby Morfeusz’s prospects of survival.

Sebastian Chlamtacz yesterday said he and his wife were very upset and he was not sure what had happened. “At five o’clock the evening before, everything was fine, but the doctor later said the baby was not breathing,’’ he said. The couple have two other children, Tola, 5, and Kora, 2.

Yesterday, Independent Kerry TD Tom Fleming called for a return to locally- controlled call-out systems for emergency services.

He said he raised serious concerns last year with Health Minister James Reilly regarding the introduction of the National Control Centre in Dublin.

Mr Fleming said it was obvious from the outset that there would be a lot of teething problems with the new system and this was why he had requested the retention of the existing control centre at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee.

“The input of local staff is of the utmost importance in regards to a top class ambulance service. The lack of local knowledge has, unfortunately, led to several incidents around the county and the country that could and should have been avoided.”

The HSE has sympathised with the bereaved family and said the ambulance service is satisfied the necessary protocols around responding to an emergency had been adhered to in the case.

It has also repeatedly stressed that, despite the latest tragedy, the ambulance system is an improvement on the older approach, which could see paramedics on-call for up to 20 hours.

The incident follows a separate miscommunication issue at the centre of the death of toddler Vakaris Martinaitis in Midleton, Co Cork, last month, when an ambulance was told to “stand down” and not attend the scene. The child, who was just short of his second birthday, fell from the upstairs window of his home, suffering fatal head injuries.