Family agony at 30 minute wait for ambulance
A FAMILY has asked for a review into how the ambulance system works after it took an ambulance 30 minutes to arrive to bring a woman 200 yards to the Lourdes Hospital.
Sadly, Daphne Mullins passed away after she collapsed outside her daughter’s home at Mayfield, close to the hospital.
Her son-in-law, David Bradley, says they want to highlight the story in a bid to make a difference and perhaps change minds somewhere about how the ambulance service works.
‘Daphne was 200 yards from the hospital and we waited 30 minutes for an ambulance. Surely that can’t be right?,’ he stated.
He says the operator did their best and advised them on how to do CPR.
‘ The ambulance crew took over when they arrived and I’d have to thank them. They were great,’ David stated.
‘ The ambulance had to come from Navan and that’s totally unacceptable when we have a main hospital for the North East in Drogheda.
‘We would just say, if one person’s life was spared by raising this, it would be worthwhile.
‘We would also ask how many times does this happen every week when an ambulance has to come from such a distance to help someone?.’
David says the irony is that his mother in law actually lived in Navan and was going home when she collapsed.
It was also tragic for her son, Tom, who – on the morning of the day his mother died - received a visa to visit her for a month. Tom’s joy turned to unbelievable sorrow later that same day when David had to let him know that Daphne had passed away.