County to finally get 24/7 ambulance cover
FOLLOWING a whole host of negotiations over the past few weeks, Co Wexford is to receive full round the clock ambulance cover countywide for the first time from June 8.
Ambulance cover and staffing is an issue that’s been to the fore for a number of years. While it was announced that 24/7 cover was coming down the tracks back in December, the plan ran into subsequent delays. However, last week official confirmation arrived that a total of 11 new staff are to be appointed to the National Ambulance Service in Wexford, the biggest intake in staff in over 15 years.
The move will also see a total of seven ambulances available in the county during the day, with four available at night and six available over the weekend and the addition of a new rapid response vehicle.
‘It’s great news,’ said Advanced Paramedic with the National Ambulance Service, Cllr Ger Carthy. ‘It will provide for enhanced cover across the whole county and will result in better response times and a reduction of the hefty workloads that had been placed upon crews. It’s something that will be of great benefit to the end user - the patient. Any addition of staff and resources to the National Ambulance Service is to be welcomed and I’d like to thank senior management and SIPTU reps for ensuring this made it over the line.’
There had been some criticism of ambulance response times in Co Wexford in recent years as crew members were faced with rapidly expanding workloads. In 2019, on 26 occasions it took more than an hour for an ambulance to arrive. However, Cllr Carthy is convinced that the allocation of new staff and resources to put in place 24 hour cover will turn the tide on this trend.
‘Over the past year, we’ve had a massive increase in our workloads,’ he said. ‘As a result, we’ve seen things like calls coming from Enniscorthy being responded to by Ambulances from Carlow, because an ambulance wasn’t available closer. I would hope that this latest development will alleviate this type of situation. We’ll be looking at quicker response times. When you combine our excellent Community First Responders network, when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, with increased resources and more vehicles, ultimately this will be of huge benefit to the people of Wexford when it comes to getting people into acute care within a defined time period.’
Also welcoming the announcement was Fianna Fáil TD James Browne who had been vocal on the subject for a number of years.
‘It really is brilliant news for Co Wexford,’ he said. ‘As well as ambulances being on call 24 hours per day, we will also see the provision of extra day-service ambulances during busy periods. Our ambulance personnel provide an invaluable service to our county. Their timely assistance will be needed to continue the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve been raising this issue long before I was a TD and I am very pleased that it is now finally coming to pass.’