Ambulance service - Long delays are putting lives at risk

THE longer it takes the ambulance service to get emergency patients to hospital, the greater the risk to their safety and lives.

Not even an organisation like the HSE, which has a regrettable image of spin-doctoring when crises crop up in the health system, can dispute that basic fact.

However, according to official figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, published by the Irish Examiner today, patients in rural areas up and down the country regularly face ambulance journey times that are almost 50% longer than accepted international standards.