HSE probes whistleblower claims on ambulance cover

An investigation is under way into claims by a whistle-blower that only one ambulance was left to provide cover to an estimated 150,000 people across Limerick City and the east of the county on Leaving Certificate results night.

The source claimed no trained paramedics were rostered to work in the city from midnight Wednesday to 8am Thursday morning, leaving only two student paramedics on duty on what is potentially one of the ambulance service’s busiest nights of the year.

Student paramedics are not allowed to respond in ambulances to 999 emergency calls without a trained paramedic assisting them, the source said.

The whistleblower said one ambulance crew, comprising one trained paramedic and one trainee, responded to calls in Limerick only after the trained paramedic, who was rostered at another ambulance base in the mid-west, was diverted to Limerick City by the national ambulance control base in Tallaght, Dublin.

If the claims are found to be true, the region would have had no ambulance cover and been left to depend on back-up crews in Tipperary and Clare.

“You will not believe me when I tell you this,” the whistleblower said. “There were no trained paramedics rostered for duty in Limerick city and large parts of the county on Leaving Certificate night. It also happened last Monday night. It’s crazy and it can’t continue.”

The whistleblower said despite work rosters been organised weeks in advance, only intern paramedics were rostered for duty again last Monday night, from 12am to 8am on Tuesday.

“I’ve no problem with student paramedics, they’re only doing their internship — but the managers; there’s no one managing the place,” the whistleblower said.

“One crew, that was it, they were the only ambulance in Limerick on Leaving Cert night. So one ambulance is there for a city with a population of over 80,000 plus the suburbs, and the east of the county.”

If an ambulance in Limerick cannot respond to an emergency call, back-up cover is provided by ambulance crews in Ennis, Co Clare; Nenagh and Tipperary Town; and Newcastle West in Co Limerick, which itself has only one crew.

A spokesperson for the HSE said the National Ambulance Service was investigating the claims and said it would not be in a position to furnish a statement until today.