Tipperary TD Michael Lowry is to raise the performance of the National Ambulance Service when the Dáil resumes and says he is committed to keeping an upgrade of the service on the Government’s list of priorities.
The commitment comes follow a recent incident in Nenagh when a 93-year-old woman waited 90 minutes on the street with a broken hip for an ambulance.
Deputy Lowry says such an event is shameful and totally unacceptable.
The HSE response regarding the delay is that the service was “experiencing very high demand for 999 services for patients with immediate life-threatening injuries and illnesses which, unfortunately, meant that some patients had longer waits.”
Deputy Lowry says the service is failing in its duty of care due to gross under-staffing and excessive delays at hospital EDs where ambulances are forced to sit and wait to transfer a patient.
The Independent TD says the Ambulance Service, cannot cope with the demands placed on it and is repeating a warning issued by Robert Morton, the Director of the National Ambulance Service that the existing paramedic workforce needs to be doubled.
