Properly Staffed Ambulance Station Needed in Ballinamore – Cllr Kenny Cllr Martin Kenny is calling on the HSE to put a properly staffed ambulance station at the new hospital now under construction in Ballinamore, to service the greater Ballinamore and Carrigallen area. Cllr Kenny said, “It is no surprise that this RTÉ investigation has found that only one in every three people with life-threatening conditions were responded to by an ambulance service within the target time last year. The area where I live is totally out on a limb, when it comes to the ambulance service.” “In greater Ballinamore and Carrigallen area, the travel time for an ambulance to reach an accident is well outside the target time set by the HSE. People in this end of Leitrim are either serviced by the ambulance base in Carrick-on-Shannon or from Cavan town, both of which are up to 40 minutes away on a good day and there is often no ambulance available at these bases. Several years ago when the plans for the new hospital in Ballinamore were being laid out, I said there needed to be an ambulance station based at the new facility to service the area. In the light of the publicity around the RTE investigation programme, I am calling on the HSE to put a properly staffed ambulance station in Ballinamore.” “Across the whole country we simply do not have enough ambulances and enough trained personnel to ensure a proper emergency service. Large parts of the State have been left without adequate ambulance cover. This crisis has been raised regularly at the Oireachtas Health Committee and in the Dáil. Compared to the Six Counties and to Scotland the number of ambulances and paramedics in this State per head of population is totally inadequate. There are 57 ambulance service bases in the Six Counties compared to 87 for the entire 26 Counties. “I am not criticising the dedicated work of the ambulance crews. They are providing a modern, highly skilled and efficient service – but within the severe limits of the resources made available to them by Government. “Response time targets are not being met because of the shortage of personnel, inadequate infrastructure and insufficient funding. Health Minister James Reilly must take immediate action and ensure the provision of more ambulance and more trained personnel, sufficient to ensure that we have a safe service right across the State and that includes the south Leitrim.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:14:16 +0000
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