Lynch seeking a better service

KILRUSH Town Councillor Ian Lynch has accused the Department of Health and the HSE of discrimination against the residents of the west coast of Ireland.

He made his comment at the February meeting of Kilrush Town Council, having asked the council to request “the minister for health and the HSE to recognise the hard work and essential service provided by local voluntary public access defibrillator organisations in Kilrush and throughout Clare”.
He also called for the immediate establishment of a dedicated Cardiac First Response (CFR) service that is linked to the HSE, which would operate in the Mid-West region.
“A joined-up approach that uses these voluntary organisations in conjunction with the ambulance services would reduce the number of fatalities from cardiac arrest,” Councillor Lynch claimed.
“The Department of Health appear to have become an extension of the Department of Finance in that its main concern appears to be saving money and cutting services. There appears to be little focus on providing the best possible medical service to the people of this State,” he added.
Councillor Lynch said the realisation that the ambulance service cannot provide communities “with eight-minute on-scene time, as claimed by the HSE, has led communities throughout West Clare to establish defibrillator programmes out of fear”.
“A linked programme will utilise the existing established community programs by providing a link between 999 emergency calls and the community programme in the locality of the reported incident. This link will insure that local volunteers will get immediate notification and can be on the scene within the 10 minutes required to administer life-saving treatment.
“This service does not replace the medical services provided by the ambulance service, nor does it put jobs at risk.
“It complements the ambulance service and ensures life-saving treatment can be administered promptly, whilst waiting for the ambulance services to arrive,” he concluded.