Over 14,000 patients left in ‘queues’ for ambulance to arrive

A total of 14,000 seriously ill people who called 999 were left waiting in “queues” for unspecified lengths of time in Dublin last year because of chronic gaps in the capital’s ambulance services. 

Hiqa also found that one in four emergency callouts suffered dangerous delays in a single 24-hour period examined.

According to the report, Dublin Fire Brigade — which looks after the capital’s ambulance service — asked for assistance from the HSE’s National Ambulance Service in responding to almost 27,000 calls out of 81,000 to its service last year.