Abuse of ambulance service 'should attract charge or loss of medical card'

The organisation representing ambulance personnel has said there should be a charge for people who misuse ambulances by calling them out unnecessarily.

The National Ambulance Service Representative Association made the call following the publication of a review of the ambulance service by the health watchdog HIQA.

The review found there were inefficiencies in the system and recommends that more patients should be treated over the phone - or at the scene - rather than transferred to A and E.

NASRA chairman Michael Dixon said he agreed with many of the findings.

And he said people who misused the ambulance service should not be tolerated.

"There should be some sort of a charge, because people do abuse it. We have instances of that - we have our regular callers," he said.

"If (the people abusing the system) are on a medical card, it should be three strikes and you lose it."