A Clare councillor has claimed it was pure luck that an ambulance was available to respond to a woman in labour on Monday because no ambulance was available 24 hours later.
It has emerged that if the young mother had gone into labour on Tuesday evening, there would have been no emergency ambulance available locally to assist her as it had again been sent to cover a call in another county.
On Monday, paramedics based at Scarriff ambulance base in the east Clare, were requested to respond to an emergency call at 5.10pm.
They were advised that a young mother was in the late stages of labour and about to give birth. The ambulance crew arrived at the scene within minutes and quickly established that they would not have time to transport the woman to University Maternity Hospital Limerick almost 50 kilometres away.
Paramedics prepared for an on-scene birth and less than 10 minutes after arriving at the scene, assisted in the safe delivery of the new born baby.
Clare Councillor Ian Lynch believes however it was more luck that anything that there was an ambulance available in the area at the time.
“The harsh reality of the dire situation is that if this woman had gone into labour 24 hours later, she would have had to deliver her baby without any medical assistance as the ambulance crew was yet again taken from Scarriff to provide cover in Nenagh, leaving east Clare without any ambulance cover again,” Cllr Lynch said.
“The excellent work by the ambulance crew in caring for the young mother and delivering the newborn is yet again clear evidence of the importance of providing full crew cover at Scarriff, Kilrush and Ennistymon ambulance stations at all times,” the Kilrush based councillor said.
“It’s really the luck of God that the ambulance crew was stationed at Scarriff on Monday. Is this how we now run or health and ambulance service, relying on luck?,” he added.
In recent months, large areas of Clare have been left without ambulance cover while a rapid response unit, specifically introduced when the emergency department in Ennis was closed in 2009, was off the road for as many as 20 shifts in July.
Cllr Lynch says however: “The redeployment of ambulances in Clare to cover other areas is leaving vast parts within the county without emergency ambulance cover. It is imperative that the Minister for Health intervenes immediately to improve the working conditions and numbers of crew to ensure the ambulance service is able to provide the highest possible cover at all times.”