Elderly man refused transport in ambulance

A doctor had to inject an 83-year-old man with morphine so his son could drive him to hospital after the pensioner was refused transport in a public ambulance.

The elderly man from Barryroe in West Cork fell ill in the early hours of last Saturday morning and a SouthDoc GP recommended he be transferred immediately to hospital.

The pensioner had private health insurance and was informed he could get a bed at the Bon Secours hospital in Cork.

“The GP contacted the ambulance service and was told they didn’t provide a service to private hospitals. The doctor had never heard of this before. He was aghast at the ruling,” Cllr John O’Sullivan (FG) told a HSE (South) forum meeting yesterday.

He said the elderly man’s family were unable to locate a private ambulance in Cork at the time. The doctor then decided to administer the painkiller so the son could drive him 33 miles to the Bon Secours.

“This man was freeing up a bed in a public hospital. It’s inhumane and unacceptable what happened to him. This policy should be re-looked at, especially if a medical professional can testify that a patient needs ambulance transport.”

A number of other councillors expressed their concern that the reconfiguration of the ambulance service in Cork and Kerry was leading to problems.

Gerry O’Dwyer, HSE South regional director for performance and integration, said it was his intention to invite senior officials from the ambulance service to the forum’s next meeting so they could address these concerns.

“There have been some issues, certainly, but I believe the service has improved [since reconfiguration],” Mr O’Dwyer said.

Eithne McAuliffe, HSE manager of primary care and specialist services, said ambulances were tasked to take patients to emergency departments (EDs) and it was “not considered” that private hospitals had them.