10% of Coast Guard helicopter usage for rural patients

The transport of patients from rural areas to major hospitals represents one in 10 of the record 1,000 missions completed by the Coast Guard helicopters so far in 2015.

In missions over the weekend, the services based at Shannon and Sligo went to the assistance of a young preganant woman on the Aran island of Inish Mór on Saturday night, while assistance was also called to a boy with leg injuries, but the Sligo Coast Guard helicopter was unable to land in foggy conditions and road transport was used.

The two west coast helicopters have been the busiest this year, with 343 missions completed by Sligo-based Rescue 118, and 330 by Shannon-based helicopter Rescue 115.