Dying man had 36-minute wait for help

THE nearest available ambulance to an elderly man, who subsequently died after suffering cardiac arrest, was 80km away in another county.

The man was taken ill and subsequently died in Cappagh, Co Clare, on August 3.

At the time there was no ambulance available locally and the nearest was more than an hour away in Limerick city.

The ambulance based at the nearest station in Kilrush – 2km away – was dealing with another call at the time.

NAS controllers sent a lone paramedic in a rapid response vehicle (RRV) from Limerick city while an advanced paramedic, specially trained in advanced life support skills, was dispatched in another RRV.

Despite the best efforts of neighbours, local first responders and fire service personnel to resuscitate the man, he passed away at the scene. It took 36 minutes for the first ambulance to reach the scene.

Local councillor and RNLI lifeboat member and trained first responder Ian Lynch, who attended the call in Cappagh on August 3, called for the HSE to dispatch the fire brigade to calls when an ambulance wasn’t available.

The NAS confirmed they received a call at 9.41pm.

“The National Emergency Operation Centre emergency dispatcher immediately dispatched the closest emergency ambulance, which was supported by a rapid response vehicle which arrived at the scene at 10.17pm,” an NAS statement said.

“At the time of this incident the on-duty Kilrush ambulance was engaged at an incident in Kilmihil, Co Clare.

“The emergency call-taker remained on the phone and provided pre-arrival assistance to those at the scene and identified at 9.51pm that the patient was in cardiac arrest.”