Tag Archives: HSE West

Councillor calls for changes to dispatch procedures as busy resort left without cover A KILRUSH-based ambulance was tasked to attend an incident in Cork last summer leaving West Clare without cover during a population explosion from 1,000 to 15,000 locals and holidaymakers in Kilkee. That’s the assertion made by Councillor Cillian Murphy at a HSE West Forum meeting where he requested the operational procedures for dispatchers in the National Ambulance Service be amended. The Kilkee councillor wants to ensure an estimated time of arrival by the ambulance to the required location is provided, based on the current real time situation, as a matter of form rather than as a response to a caller request. Councillor Murphy said people working in the ambulance service are becoming increasingly frustrated with the use of the ambulance as a “taxi service”. “If the public were given an approximate time for the ambulance to be on site based on how acute the need was, I …

THE lack of official ambulances for major GAA games is “worrying”, a Tipperary councillor has stated. Speaking at a HSE West Forum meeting in Galway on Tuesday, Councillor David Doran said it is “worrying” that there is no plan in place for an extra ambulance when Semple Stadium in Thurles is hosting a big GAA game. The National Ambulance Service (NAS) has confirmed it does not have the funding or the resources to cover any GAA match in any venue this year. While NAS chief ambulance officer, Paudie O’Riordan, acknowledged that there was a time when the service was in a position to provide ambulance cover within a GAA stadium, it is no longer in a position to do this. Mr O’Riordan pointed out the GAA is responsible for putting adequate medical services in place, as the main event organiser. In February, Tipperary football manager, Liam Kearns, expressed concern about the length of time it took an ambulance to arrive …

A former Ennis Hospital manager has been appointed to a new role that will see him oversee the management of some medical facilities. Frank Keane has become the new general manager of unscheduled care, which includes managing the emergency department in University Hospital Limerick (UHL), which experiences almost daily overcrowding. It also involves overseeing improvements in the delivery of services in the Local Injuries Units in Ennis and Nenagh and the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) in Ennis, Nenagh and UHL. It is a case of the wheel coming full circle for the Ennis resident, who started his career as a emergency medical technician in 1992 and will now be in charge of the ED in UHL, where paramedics bring patients from the Mid-West for life-saving treatment. Working as an EMT in the region until 1998, he then became an ambulance officer and worked in this role until 2003, when he became a business development manager at UHL. In 2006, he …

Regular transfers of nurses from Ennis Hospital to cover staffing shortages at University Hospital Limerick has heightened fears about future downgrading. HSE Forum West chairman, Councillor Tom McNamara, has registered his concern about why nurses who are rostered for duty in Ennis Hospital are being requested to report for duty at UHL on an ongoing basis. At a forum meeting in Galway on Tuesday, he said, “This is giving out the wrong message about Ennis Hospital. Clare people are worried that Ennis Hospital is being downgraded by the fact that staff are being moved out of the hospital to deal with a situation in UHL. “The HSE needs to deal its staffing shortage in UHL as quickly as possible. I know that it is not easy to get additional staff but the go-ahead has been given for more recruitment,” he said. While Councillor McNamara acknowledged there is a lack of staff at UHL, he claimed it is creating the wrong …