Union criticises asbence of defibrillators in fire trucks

The union that represents part time fire fighters has criticized the absence of defibrillators in fire trucks, and also hit out at the lack of training for personnel in basic first aid.

Chairman of the National Federation of Part-time Fire-fighters and SIPTU representative Brendan McCoy has said that a report presented to the Minister for Health Mary Harney two years ago found that “survival rates following cardiac arrest are directly related to time to resuscitation and in particular, defibrillation”.

Mr McCoy has claimed that lived are being put at risk by the absence of deliberators in trucks, and the lack of training needed for their use.

The Health Service Executive has the task of implementing the report and Mr McCoy says very little has been done over the two years.

“Following recent sudden death tragedies, the public are under the impression that the fire services automatically carry defibrillation as part of standard equipment,” said Mr. McCoy. “This is not the case, and the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government who made a submission to the task force needs to rectify this situation immediately.