Air ambulance a ‘missed opportunity’

One of the country’s top doctors has criticised the HSE for not putting doctors on board Ireland’s first charity air ambulance service.

Stephen Cusack, the first academic professor of emergency medicine to be appointed in Ireland and a pioneer in the development of pre-hospital care here, described it as a “missed opportunity”.

Dr Cusack spoke out last night as the aircraft, which will provide the new helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS), touched down in Kerry — marking the end of a decade-long campaign by the Irish Community Rapid Response charity to launch an air ambulance service here.

The HEMS is being supported by the HSE and the National Ambulance Service (NAS). Medical crew training is under way and it is hoped it will go live under the 999/112 system next month.

However, the Irish Examiner revealed this week that plans to launch a doctor-led service have been shelved.

The service, to be based in North Cork, will be crewed by an advanced paramedic and an emergency medical technician in line with the existing Athlone-based Air Corps 112 HEMS service.

Irish Community Rapid Response founder John Kearney said it has been a long campaign to get the service off the ground, and that as it develops, he hopes it will move to a physician/advanced paramedic model.

Dr Cusack said it is important to welcome the service, but he said he is “very disappointed” that physicians are not part of the crew from the outset, particularly given the history of pre-hospital care in this region.

Last night, the HSE said crew arrangement for the HEMS is based on the successful Athlone-based service which has, over the last five years, successfully dealt with thousands of patients, the “overwhelming majority of whom have had their medical needs met by this model”.

“NAS are exploring how this might be further enhanced in the future,” it said.

“This could include physician crewing, expanding the scope of practice of advanced paramedic crew, or a combination of both.”