AN ELDERLY MAN in Carrigaholt had to wait two and a half hours for an ambulance to arrive after sustaining an injury earlier this month.
At approximately 5:45pm on September 8th, the Carrigaholt man sustained the injury, an ambulance was immediately called but did not arrive in the West Clare village until approximately 8:15pm and even then an alternative method of transport was used to bring the man to hospital.
When the ambulance was initially called, personnel indicated that they would be on the scene within forty minutes but were called to another incident which caused the delayed arrival. In the interim the Shannon based Coast Guard Helicopter R115 was tasked to assist and arrived in Carrigaholt at 8.10pm while a unit from Kilkee Fire Service also attended the scene, the injured man was removed to hospital by helicopter at 8:30pm.
Cathaoirleach of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) labelled the delay as “extremely concerning” and has requested a full explanation from the National Ambulance Service. “This is a further example of the urgent need for additional ambulance services to be made available with immediate effect particularly to people who live in remote communities in areas like West Clare”.
She told The Clare Echo, “It is just not acceptable that an injured person should have to wait two and a half hours for an ambulance to arrive. The consequences of a delay such as this could be catastrophic and it is extremely concerning”.
Availability and cover of the ambulance service in West Clare needs to be reviewed, she maintained. “It should be protocol that once a location is further than a certain distance from an ambulance base, the helicopter should automatically deployed to remote areas such as the Loophead peninsula,” the Doonbeg woman stated.
According to the General Election candidate, “Until the arrival of the ambulance the only pain relief that could be administered to the injured man was paracetamol. This is simply not good enough and I am determined to represent the very understandable concerns of people who live in the peninsula with regard to very serious issues like this. This incident further justifies the need for an A&E in Ennis given that if the patient had to go to hospital by ambulance, it would have been a significant additional distance to Limerick”.
She added, “The people who live in places like Carrigaolt, Kilbaha and Cross deserve better than this”.
