Concerns raised over ambulance cover for South Sligo
A South Sligo Councillor has raised concerns around ambulance provision within the region at the February meeting of the HSE West Health Forum.
Ballymote Councillor Keith Henry said while there was a base in Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon he claimed the crews there spent nearly all of their time answering calls from Longford, Westmeath, Cavan, Mayo, Galway and several other counties out of region.
“This is because they are the nearest available ambulance in most cases and it has a domino effect in that South Sligo, South Leitrim and North Roscommon have no available ambulance as a result of these out of region calls.”
Cllr Henry continued: “When an ambulance moves out of the area there’s no guarantee one will always move in to replace it. Sligo’s ambulances already pick up calls from all over the North West.
“If an ambulance leaves a base like Boyle or Carrick-onShannon it could be four hours or more before they return leaving a large area uncovered in the event of an emergency.”
Cllr Henry who is a post primary teacher at Carrick-on -Shannon Community School, said what happened in one county affected its neighbours as ambulances were pulled out to cover emergencies.
“If Sligo’s ambulances are on call outs, those locations become our nearest ambulances in South Sligo and they’re con- stantly being dragged around the country,” he added.
Paudie O’Riordan of the Ambulance Service responded that nineteen additional paramedic staff were assigned to the North West in 2016 and 2017 to eliminate on call.
Cllr Henry said while this was a welcome move the recruitment of additional staff into the region and an extra one or two ambulances in outlying areas would go a long way to solving the issues he had raised and would reduce response times.
“Rural areas are responding to shortages in urban areas and as a result they have longer response times.
“I’m aware of close to twenty paramedics who would like to transfer to the region but can- not,” said Cllr Henry.
Mr O’Riordan said transfers would be accommodated where it didn’t cause shortages in the regions they were leaving and that this was difficult.
He said that at the moment Galway City is his biggest concern to which Cllr Henry responded this was the “reason why rural bases like Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon are constantly out of their area.
“They’re answering emergency calls out of region and leaving a huge geographic area without an ambulance. Getting more crews and ambulances is the only solution,” said Cllr Henry.