Ambulance sent 171km from Castletownbere to Slea Head due to shortages and delays

Siptu's Ted Kenny said that crews can drive “500 and sometimes 700km in a day” if they are dispatched to another county.

The route from Castletownbere to Slea Head. Picture: Google Maps

Ambulance services are so stretched in Cork and Kerry that a crew was dispatched from Castletownbere to Slea Head — a three-hour journey — because there were no ambulances available that were nearer.

The Oireachtas health committee heard yesterday of this and other long journeys caused by the combined impact of staff shortages and delays transferring patients into crowded hospitals.