Dublin People - Collapsed woman waits 50 minutes for ambulance

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Collapsed woman waits 50 minutes for ambulance

Thursday, 10 July 2008

A 50-YEAR-OLD woman who collapsed in Dún Laoghaire recently had to wait almost an hour for an ambulance, it has been claimed.
The incident has highlighted concerns that emergency services on the Southside may be struggling. It also emerged that fire fighters in South County Dublin, who are fully trained paramedics, are not being called out to emergencies in the absence of available ambulances.
Fire fighters in the rest of the Dublin area are trained in this area and can deal with medical call-outs.
Employees at the Ventilux factory in Dún Laoghaire told Southside People that they rang the emergency services on Monday June 23, for a 50-year-old colleague who had just collapsed.
However, the woman’s fellow workers became anxious when there was no sign of an ambulance 10 minutes later and they redialled the emergency services number.
In the end it allegedly took a total of 50 minutes in the period between the time the ambulance was called and its eventual arrival at the scene.
Brian Ford, who is a colleague of the ill woman, said he decided to call in to the local fire station in Dún Laoghaire because he was worried that the ambulance his colleagues had requested had not yet arrived and he knew some of the local firemen were fully trained paramedics.
Emergency service operators had informed Mr Ford that an ambulance was en route all the way from Tallaght because of the lack of available ambulances in the area.
Mr Ford said: “They [local firemen] came down and they were able to give the lady oxygen and were able to stabilise her. The ambulance then arrived at 12.25pm, which was 50 minutes after we rang it.”
Emergency services calls from the Dún Laoghaire, Dalkey, Killiney, the Shankill and the South County Dublin area are covered by Loughlinstown ambulance base, which is controlled by the HSE.

Emergency

However, Mr Ford was shocked when staff at Dún Laoghaire Fire Station informed him that the HSE does not use the local fire brigade staff for emergency calls, even though this is what happens in the rest of the Dublin area.
At present, in every part of Dublin outside of Dún Laoghaire, the Dublin Fire Brigade are contracted by the relevant local authority to provide ambulance and emergency services cover.
Therefore, when someone makes an emergency services call in relation to a cardiac arrest case, for example, either a Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance or a fire engine will call to the scene.
But even if there is a shortage of ambulances in the South County Dublin area, the HSE does not use the local fire services for emergencies. This is despite the fact that most firemen are fully trained paramedics and may be able to attend to the scene far more promptly.
A member of staff at Dún Laoghaire fire station felt that they should be used in emergency situations, especially if they were able to get to a call in a shorter period of time than a HSE ambulance could.
“There is a need for us to be called out to these emergencies,” he said.
“We are here to be used for whatever emergency we are needed for but we are not asked.
“If in Dublin they thought there was going to be a delay in getting an ambulance to the scene, they would send a fire engine in the meantime to administer first aid and to stabilise the patient while they are waiting for the ambulance and then the patient would be taken to the hospital.
“But that doesn’t happen here and in Dún Laoghaire they have to rely on ambulances even though we may be able to get to the call more quickly.
“It’s just bureaucracy.”’
A spokeswoman for the HSE said on the date in question all available local resources were engaged on emergency calls.
“The next nearest available resource was despatched which was the ambulance from the Tallaght base. On the day in question most of the delay was due to heavy traffic volumes.
“The ambulance control room was aware of the fact that the fire service, which had a defibrillator and portable oxygen, had been called to the scene by the local people.”

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