Tag Archives: Clare Ambulance Service

EMERGENCY response times for West Clare patients are back in the spotlight again after a Kilrush woman endured an eight-hour wait for an ambulance. The elderly woman did receive medical assistance from a member of the fire brigade and off-duty medical person while she was left lying on the floor in her home. This case was highlighted at a recent HSE West Forum meeting by Councillor Cillian Murphy where he stressed eight hours was too long for anyone to be waiting who needs hospital care even if it wasn’t a high acuity case. The Kilkee-based councillor said this person would have been ideal to receive treatment from a community paramedic. “If an eight-hour wait is what we are expecting, I would like a response on that.” Chief Ambulance Officer, J J McGowan admitted the ambulance response time fell short of their standards. “If you would like to send us the details, we would like to see what happened in that …

A CLARE Dáil Deputy has called for increased resources for the ambulance service after personnel assisted her to have her sixth child outside Kilrush Golf Club on Monday, writes Dan Danaher. The ambulance that collected Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne didn’t even make it to University Maternity Hospital Limerick in time and the baby girl, who weighed 6.10oz was delivered in the ambulance beside Kilrush Golf Course. Having commenced her maternity leave in January, Deputy Wynne’s due date was not until March but she instinctively suspected it would be early. Mother and baby are doing well and the Kilrush-based Deputy was due to be discharged on Wednesday evening. She told The Clare Champion that she is delighted with her new baby. “I am over the moon to announce the arrival of my sixth child. Albeit an eventful labour and birth, I couldn’t be happier to be holding her in my arms. “I am thrilled to welcome the newest member of our family …

NATIONAL ambulance personnel from Clare were in Northern Ireland carrying out Covid-19 testing while an ambulance was sent 175km from Galway to provide treatment to an injured motorcyclist, a local Dáil Deputy has claimed. The lack of ambulance drivers to deal with serious incidents was highlighted in the Dáil recently by Deputy Michael McNamara, who expressed concern about the dispatch of an ambulance from the Carraroe base in County Galway to an incident in Kilkee, two hours away A motorcyclist was hospitalised following the incident which occurred in Kilkee shortly after 4.30pm on Sunday, October 10. The collision, which happened on Gratten Street in the West Clare resort, involved a car and a motorcycle. It is believed there was no National Ambulance Service (NAS) resource available in Clare or Limerick at the time, which resulted in the requirement to draft in an ambulance from Galway to provide the necessary medical assistance. Firefighters from nearby Kilkee fire station were requested to …

THE lack of 19 paramedics for the Clare ambulance service and the frequent withdrawal of the rapid response vehicle (RRV) from the county to deal with major trauma cases is putting “lives at risk”, a union has claimed. The chronic shortage of local paramedics to provide a safe service for emergency patients has come sharply into focus this week, in light of excessive overtime levels for ambulance personnel. The top 10 Clare paramedics were each paid, on average, €82,000 in 2013, to work exceptionally long hours, due to a chronic lack of ambulance personnel. This average figure is more than double the highest starting salary of €36,640 for a paramedic with over 11 years of experience. This expenditure, which included €550,385 in total overtime payments made to local paramedics two years ago, has placed the spotlight on “unsafe” levels of additional hours that are still being worked by staff, providing life-saving interventions. The National Ambulance Service (NAS) had declined to …