The death of a man in his Roscrea home earlier this month is giving cause for concern about the response times from the National Ambulance Service.
Mr Ian McCarthy, aged 29 and a married father of three waited two hours for an ambulance to attend his home after he became unwell due to a suspected asthma attack on August 1st.
An investigation by Noteworthy published in the Journal today reveals that the death is one of a number of fatalities that have raised serious questions over the National Ambulance Service (NAS) emergency response system.
One member of the service claims that unless action is taken to hire extra patient facing paramedics and improve the 999 call categorisation service the situation will not improve.
On the occasion of Mr McCarthy’s death neighbours were advised to wait for the ambulance and not to transport him in their private cars –
Garda and personnel from the Tipperary Fire Service did respond but neither carry pure oxygen needed in such a case. It is understood that Mr McCarthy’s father Karl is to make an official complaint to the National Ambulance Service.
