TD SLAMS AMBULANCE TURNAROUND TIMES AT LOURDES HOSPITAL

Just 17.6% of ambulances arriving at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda were ready to be dispatched again in the recommended twenty minute turn over time, according to new figures released by the Department of Health.

Ambulance turnaround times measure the time interval from ambulance arrival at a hospital, to when the crew is ready to accept another call.

The figures show that Louth has a success rate of just 17.6% within the HIQA 20-minute turnover time and a 46% rate within the HSE 30-minute turnover time.

It also emerged that the wait times are much higher than Louth’s 2017 figures, which were 36% in the 20-minute timeframe and 71% in the 30-minute timeframe.

Louth TD Declan Breathnach said the figures were ‘shocking.’

‘ The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) have said that all hospitals in Ireland should monitor the implementation of

95% of patients being handed over from an ambulance crew to the emergency department staff in less than 20 minutes. The HSE monitors it at 30 minutes with a target of 95% turnaround in that time,’ said Deputy Breathnach.

The figures were supplied by the Department of Health following a Parliamentary

Question.

The Louth TD added:

‘ The increase in ambulance turnaround times is another reflection of the pressures on our hospitals and the lack of capacity to cope. This is because emergency departments are too busy and with too few staff to process a patient coming in by ambulance.’

‘It’s a vicious cycle; emergency departments are overcrowded, causing delays in taking patients from ambulances, causing increased ambulance response times. When ambulance response times worsen, people in emergencies are left in a very dangerous situation. Minister Simon Harris should never have allowed the situation to come to this.’

Meanwhile Louth

Councillor, Erin McGreehan has raised local communities’ fears regarding ambulance services in North Louth.

The issues was raised on her behalf by Senator Keith Swanick who asked the Minister of Health to address the ‘ life threatening delays’ in which it often takes to get an ambulance to North Louth.’

Cllr MCGreehan said: ‘ The ambulance service has three bases in Louth, Dundalk, Drogheda and Ardee but experience shows that the resources given to these bases and the A&E Departments are inadequate. Last April, for example it took two hours for an ambulance to attend to a man injured in an accident at Greenore Port when an ambulance had to be dispatched from Blanchardstown. This incident highlights the genuine problems with the service in North Louth.

Minister of State at the Department of Health Deputy Jim Daly responded stating that ‘policy of dynamic deployment, where vehicles are strategically located where they are most likely to be required, rather than located at a particular station. In this regard, Louth can also be served by resources based at neighbouring counties’.

Cllr McGreehan commended the great work of the local ambulance service, adding ‘However it is a reflection on resources that are given to the Louth Ambulance Service, it is a constant worry for people living in isolated areas of North Louth that if they need an Ambulance, they may have to wait up to two hours for it to arrive.’