Frontline service cuts - Time to get the message

The West Cork Faculty of the Irish College of General Practitioners has written to various public representatives to highlight the danger of plans to reduce from four to three the number of emergency ambulances servicing West Cork.

They warn this is “dangerous and unworkable”.

The whole issue smacks of inviting an inevitable tragedy, because the area involved is so expansive, diverse, and often served by a very poor road network.

Even with four emergency ambulances, GPs note the response time in waiting for an ambulance service has often been excessive.

The GPs listed 37 towns and villages stretching from Bandon to the western extremities of Co Cork. The area includes six populated islands off the coast. The overall population is around 80,000, and this increases by another 30% during summer months.

The HSE has been closing hospitals and now it is rationalising ambulance services. Surely it is time the bureaucrats got the message that such frontline services should be the last to be cut.