Tullamore ambulance turnaround times ‘failing utterly’
RENUA Ireland leader, Cllr John Leahy has challenged the HSE to explain the dangerously low turn around rates for ambulances in Portlaoise and Tullamore.
“It is expected that ambulances in emergency should meet an average turnaround time of twenty minutes. I am gravely concerned that Tullamore is failing utterly to meet HSE targets and the situation in Portlaoise is equally unsettling,” commented Cllr Leahy.
“It is not good enough that barely one in eight Tullamore ambulances are cleared in the correct time. The fact that it takes so many ambulances, more that 50%, take up to an hour to be cleared speaks of a totally dysfunctional system.
“How on earth is it that one in twenty ambulances take between one and two hours to clear?” he questioned. “We need answers quickly as to why the average turnaround time is, at 35.13 minutes - almost twice the acceptable rate.”
At Tullamore Hospital, figures show that 13.5% of ambulances cleared in 20 Minutes or less; 39.5% cleared in 30 Minutes or less; while 94.2% cleared in 60 minutes or less; and 5.8% cleared in 1-2 hours or less. This gives an average turnaround time of 35.13 minutes.
“Minister Harris needs to impose some accountability on this system,” Cllr Leahy continued. He warned the situation is equally deplorable in Portlaoise.
“The situation in Laois is equally stark with three quarters of ambulance clearances failing to meet the twenty minutes objective. I am particularly concerned that almost one in ten hospitals take more than an hour whilst the average clearance time, at 33.11 minutes, is little better than that of Tullamore.
“Once again lives are being put at risk. Ambulances backed up in Emergency Departments are not available to the community or to people who are seriously ill. There are always exceptional circumstances, but, currently the exception is the norm.
“It is time to tackle this crisis now with leadership and organization and to ask the National Ambulance Service and the HSE National Hospital Managers to identify realistic pro-active solutions on the ground,” he finished.