Cutbacks ‘putting rural lives at risk’
Areas of the Beara Peninsula, in West Cork, and the Iveragh Peninsula, Co Kerry, are up to 90 minutes travelling time from emergency departments in Cork and Tralee hospitals.
Time taken to reach a hospital can be a matter of matter of life or death, and delays can have fatal consequences, local campaigners say.
And considering the length of time it could take an ambulance — which might be many kilometres away — to respond to an urgent call in population-dispersed peninsulas, it could be much longer than an hour and a half before a person is admitted to hospital and receives necessary care.
Communities are combining forces and mobilising political and health professionals’ support to retain full ambulance services.
Save Our Ambulance Kenmare (SOAK) is a group which is vehemently opposing what it sees as proposals to replace ambulances with fast-response vehicles at certain times, to be used by advanced paramedics.
SOAK has collected almost 9,000 signatures in support of its campaign to hold onto a full ambulance service at the Kenmare base which also serves part of the nearby Beara Peninsula.
SOAK chairman Michael Hayes said it was vital to have a 24/7 service with a patient-carrying capacity in the peninsular areas.
“Our whole objective is to ensure this service continues. Otherwise, we can’t have a timely transfer of critically ill patients,’’ he stressed.
“We don’t see emergency response vehicles as a proper alternative to ambulances with patient-carrying capacity. These response vehicles do not present a good solution for remote areas.’’
Mr Hayes said that, up to now, they had failed to get full information from the ambulance service which has stated it is not aware of any proposals to cut back services in Kerry.
And, in response to a recent parliamentary question from Kerry Independent TD Tom Fleming, Health Minister James Reilly said no decisions had been made to cut back the level of service in South Kerry.
Dr Reilly said a number of matters needed to be progressed before deliberations in relation to the region could be finalised.
These include public, staff and clinical consultations and a reconfiguration of the control and dispatch system.
Dr Reilly also said any changes would be carried out in consultation with GPs, health professionals, public representatives, community leaders and other community groups with the aim of reassuring people that the changes will have “a positive impact on the effectiveness of the ambulance service in south Kerry’’.
National Ambulance Service and HSE managers will attend a meeting in Killarney on Sept 3 with members of SOAK, health professionals, and local politicians.
Mr Hayes said they are expecting information to be given at that meeting about plans for ambulance bases in Kenmare, Killarney, and Caherciveen.
“At the moment, there’s an absence of information,’’ he said.
“We are aware of some measures being taken to provide alternatives a fully staffed ambulance service, but have nothing specific. We are looking for full disclosure.’’ There have also been a number of cases in the Kerry area of ambulances being sent to the wrong locations in response to emergency calls.
These incidents have led to calls from politicians, such as Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae, for a return to a locally controlled call-out system based in Kerry General Hospital, Tralee.
In one case, in Tralee, an ambulance was called for an elderly man who was having difficulty breathing at 10am on Jun 9. However, the new centralised, call-out service in Townsend St, Dublin, could not locate the address at Ballyvelly, Tralee, and sent the ambulance to Spa Rd, Tralee, where the patient’s son came upon it by accident and sent it to the correct address.
However, this ambulance was not fully equipped to take the patient to Kerry General Hospital.
A second ambulance then arrived at 11.15am, having also been sent to the wrong location.
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