PROBLEMS WITHIN the Ambulance Service in Ireland have been highlighted on RTE with an incident in New Ross marked as indicative of the time delay in ambulances reaching incidents because of perceived lack of resources.
The incident in New Ross, which was highlighted on RTE’s Primetime programme on Thursday night, occurred in December and involved a person being reported as injured, following an assault, close to the Dock’s Hotel in the town.
The programme broadcast communications from ambulance control in which the crew were informed that a 30 year-old male was assaulted and had sustained “deep lacerations”.
Despite the fact that New Ross has an ambulance base, along with the three other major urban centres in the county, an ambulance had to be dispatched from Enniscorthy to go to the scene.
However, 11 minutes into its journey that ambulance was redirected back to where it came from to attend another assault incident in Enniscorthy in which a person was reported to be bleeding from the nose, ear and neck.
In communication between the ambulance control and the crew on the road viewers of the programme heard the dispatcher say: “Lads, sorry about this but I am going to have to turn you back to where you were.”
An ambulance from Wexford was then despatched to the assault incident in New Ross where it ultimately arrived 41 minutes after the emergency call was first made.
The programme also revealed that during a certain period of time there was no ambulance available on-site in Wexford town.
Former Ambulance Control Officer, Brid Ryan-Murphy, spoke on the programme and said it was “a huge problem” and added: “There are not enough resources at night.”
In response to the issues raised in the programme relating to the incident in New Ross and the wider problems in County Wexford the National Ambulance Service (NAS) issues a statement to The Echo in which it wished to clarify a number of points.
It said considerable focus during the programme was placed on Officer Response Vehicles which it said are available to respond to emergencies as and when required.
The NAS also said its budget increased by 4.3 per cent between 2012 and 2013 and that a further increase of 2.6 per cent in budget funding is to be implemented this year.
With regard to the perceived lack of ambulances in county Wexford and other parts of the country the NAS it has commissioned a ‘National Capacity Review’ which involves spatial analysis of the entire service.
“The review will utilise a modelling provider with extensive international experience of modelling ambulance operations,” said the NAS in its statement.
“The review will analyse current ambulance vehicle numbers, call cycles, and response time performances [and] additionally, the review will examine current and projected resourcing levels for emergency ambulance cover and intermediate care. Overall the review will determine the optimal deployment for the NAS.”
The NAS also said that figures revealed in the programme relating to the decrease in the number of ambulances over the past five years were incorrect: “The reduction in ambulances is 50 over the period.”
The organisation also said that €9.3m was spent on NAS vehicle equipment and replacements last year. A further €7.5m has been set aside for similar spending this year.
“This has resulted in the purchase of 27 Emergency Ambulances, 25 Intermediate Care Ambulances and 27 Rapid Response Vehicles,” the NAS told The Echo.
“It is planned to purchase a further 35 Emergency Ambulances for 2014 [and] it is also planned to spend €4.6m on a national defibrillator and mechanical CPR purchase programme in 2014.”
