The HSE has rejected claims that areas of Co Clare will be left without emergency ambulance cover as a result of changes to rostering and overtime for National Ambulance Service (NAS) personnel.
Clare Sinn Féin TD Donna McGettigan has said this will lead to large parts of the county having no ambulance service for one day a week.
NAS paramedics have claimed that three of the four ambulances bases in Clare will be left without cover for a 12-hour period on different days of the week. It’s been claimed that Ennistymon, Scarriff and Kilrush stations will have no ambulance based locally on Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays respectively.
The HSE has said however that there will be no reduction in service cover in Clare.
Deputy McGettigan said: “I’ve been contacted by staff who are very concerned about the changes, and I agree with them. I was appalled to find out that there will be no ambulance service in the Ennistymon area on Wednesdays, in the Scarriff area on Thursdays, and in the Kilrush area on Fridays. It is shocking that some of the furthest areas of the county from UHL will now be left with no ambulances on those days”.
“I don’t know if GPs, nursing homes and health centres have been informed of the changes and what arrangements they can make to try to cope with them. There is simply no suitable alternative to an ambulance with trained staff who can assist patients immediately and stabilise or treat them en route to UHL.”
“Our ambulance service was already overstretched. They were subject to the HSE recruitment embargo and are severely understaffed. For instance, there have been no trained Advanced Paramedics (AP) recruited in three years. An AP is essential to prevent many complications such as sepsis.”
She continued, “The overcrowding crisis in UHL also impacts on them. They cannot discharge their patient from the ambulance until a member of UHL staff signs them over and this can take a long time due to staff shortages and overcrowding. This leaves ambulances parked at the hospital treating their patients inside.”
“Morale is at an all-time low among paramedics who are out there saving lives every day in very difficult circumstances. The removal of ambulance cover from large parts of the county is not a solution. There are 108 jetties in the Mountshannon / Killaloe / Scariff area and each is a potential drowning hazard. They need full ambulance cover”.
West Clare is visited by thousands of tourists every year, vastly increasing the population and so the likelihood of a medical emergency”.
“The simple fact is that there are too few ambulances and too few trained staff for them. Those we have are overworked and facing burnout. These are some of the most respected workers in the country, they’re heroes who literally save lives every day, they should be resourced and treated accordingly.”
In a statement, the HSE said: “It is not true to say that there will be no ambulance cover, and there has been no reduction in service levels of the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in Co Clare.
The NAS aims to ensure it is operating within its approved-funded staffing level. This means that the approved level of service can be maintained during all leave and training arrangements without relying on excessive overtime, which can be detrimental to overall staff wellbeing.
The shifts referred to by Deputy McGettigan are unfunded shifts, however, the NAS still covers them. Where possible, the NAS covers these shifts through the use of relief staff and if this is not possible, they are covered through the use of overtime.”
Paramedics say however that the overtime budget is not there and the service is so overstretched there are no relief staff available.
It’s understood that the National Ambulance Service is under severe pressure to cut its overtime budget and these shifts in Clare, and others around the country, are the first targeted casualties.
One paramedic said: “NAS says these shifts are still covered with overtime or relief staff. What relief staff? What overtime? They are playing with words. They say there will be no reduced ambulance cover. These areas will be covered but it could be an ambulance that’s coming from Tipperary or Cork or Donegal. They are the facts.”
“Ambulance crews based in Clare could be sent anywhere in the country under this so-called dynamic deployment model. The Ennistymon ambulance was sent to Northern Ireland with a patient leaving a huge without a local ambulance for a whole day,” the medic added.
“Large parts of Clare and often the entire county is left with an ambulance. Once an ambulance from Clare goes to UHL with a patient it could then be sent anywhere. So, an ambulance might leave its base in the morning and wouldn’t see it again until the end of the shift,” they said.