Adequacy of ambulance services for north Louth raised in Seanad

The "desperate" situation regarding ambulance services in north Louth was raised in the Seanad by Senator Keith Swanick yesterday, with the Fianna Fáil senator calling for an increased rural service. Senator Swanick informed those present that at the moment there are no ambulances operating in the Omeath area.

The senator said that "Councillor Erin McGreehan from Louth recently raised with me the specific issue of ambulances in the Omeath area of north County Louth", and that "increasing the number of community paramedics and first responders would be sensible and pragmatic, and may alleviate some of the problems we have today".

Speaking in the Seanad yesterday under Commencement Matters, Senator Swanick said:

"It has been revealed that ambulance services in Louth have taken over an hour to respond to emergency call-outs on at least six different occasions in the last year.

"A freedom of information request has revealed that on one emergency occasion in Louth last year it took an hour and 27 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the scene. Out of the six occasions where ambulances took more than an hour to respond in the county, waiting times were between an hour 18 minutes and an hour 27 minutes."

Senator Swanick added that "insufficient resources are being directed towards rural areas", and asked, "what does the Minister of State plan to do, in a holistic fashion, to deal with this issue and ensure that we can get the ambulances to bring the patients to the hospitals in a timely fashion?"

In response, Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Jim Daly) said:

"The National Ambulance Service has been moving to a 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. The adoption of a dynamic deployment approach was recommended in the National Ambulance Service Baseline and Capacity Review, published in 2016."

The Minister went on to say:

"The review indicated that the only practical way to improve first response times in rural areas is through voluntary community first responder, CFR, schemes. The National Ambulance Service continues to work with local CFR groups across the region to enhance services with eight CFR groups currently operating in County Louth.

"The National Ambulance Service also works closely with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service to provide a better and more responsive service for patients in Border counties, including County Louth. Co-operation is formalised in two memoranda of understanding signed in September 2019."

Senator Swanick then asked the Minister of State "to consider expanding the co-operation with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

"Places such as Omeath are only ten minutes away from Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry and yet ambulances are being dispatched from Drogheda, leading to a response time of an hour and 20 minutes, when it could be a ten- or 20-minute response time from across the Border."

In response, the minister said he would take the senator's comments on board but added that the benefits from the two memoranda of understanding that were signed in September 2019 are "only starting to emerge and that is ongoing."