First community air ambulance won’t be doctor-led

The country’s first community air ambulance service is set to take off within weeks — but it won’t be a doctor-led service as had been hoped.

The Irish Examiner has learned that a decision has been taken to launch the life-saving service with an advanced paramedic and an emergency medical technician (EMT) delivering the care. Training of the National Ambulance Service (NAS) staff is underway.

And it has also been confirmed that the aircraft will be based at an airfield in north Cork, and not at Cork Airport, as had also been hoped.

The details were confirmed last night by Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) founder John Kearney, who has been striving for a decade to launch a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) in Ireland.

His pre-hospital care charity has a network of rapid response vehicles and volunteer doctors delivering a land-based emergency service around the country. But he has always wanted to launch a doctor-led air ambulance service to mirror successful models across the UK and Europe.

Thanks to a massive fundraising drive, it was announced in July that a contract had been signed between ICRR and UK-based Sloane Helicopters to provide the aircraft for the service.

But Mr Kearney said despite his best efforts, it just wasn’t possible to launch a seven-day-a-week doctor-led HEMS.

Ultimately, that’s where we’d like to get to but we are aware of the shortage of doctors in the health system and we don’t want to take them away from the frontline. Hopefully, as this service builds, we will get to that point. But let’s get it up and running, and we’ll build on that,” he said.

Plans to base the service at Rathcoole Aerodrome, an Irish Aviation Authority-licensed airfield just northeast of Millstreet, are at an advanced stage.

Its strategic location will mean the aircraft will be a 20-minute flight from the Dingle Peninsula to the west, Dungarvan to the east, or Crookhaven to the south.

It will bring the population of a 10,000-sq mile area within half an hour of critical care.

The charity says the new service will complement existing emergency services including the Athlone-based emergency aeromedical service operated by the NAS and Irish Air Corps.

The ICRR service, which is being supported by the HSE and Department of Health, will be tasked through the 999 or 112 emergency call system operated by the NAS at its National Emergency Operations Centre.

It is expected to respond to up to 500 calls a year, including the airlifting and transfer of seriously ill patients from remote scenes to a hospital; road traffic accidents, equestrian, agricultural, industrial and sporting incidents; and medical cases including cardiac events, strokes, and anaphylaxis.

Storm Ali forced the cancellation of the aircraft’s promotional tour this week. It is hoped to reschedule it.