A TD has raised concerns over the ambulance and air ambulance services in transporting rural people to trauma centres in cases of farm accidents and road collisions.
Yesterday (Tuesday, April 29), the government announced that the Mater Hospital in Dublin would be designated as the ‘Major Trauma Centre’ for the Central Trauma Network.
This is part of the National Trauma Strategy, which recommends the introduction of a trauma system for Ireland with one Major Trauma Centre based in Dublin servicing the Central Trauma Network and another based in Cork University Hospital servicing the South Trauma Network.
These networks would also include smaller ‘trauma units’ in the same region.
However, a TD has said these will be of “little use” to rural patients unless the facilities can be accessed.
Speaking yesterday evening after the government announcement, Roscommon-Galway TD Denis Naughten said: “It was accepted by cabinet in 2018 that the reconfiguration of trauma services should not go ahead until improvements in existing air ambulance services are introduced and additional ground ambulance resources provided.
“However, today’s announcement makes no reference to either form of emergency transport service and has been made in a week that 20 ambulances and staff have been redeployed to roll-out the Covid vaccinations to the housebound,” Naughten noted.
“So, we are now 20 ambulances down on what is normally an over-stretched service and now people will have to travel longer distances to get what will rightly be specialist medical care.”
As well as this, the independent TD said, the air ambulance service does not cover the whole country, while the current air service is supported by a charity-funded service and there is no nighttime service.
“Just two air ambulances are available during the summer months when we sadly experience a rise in serious farm accidents and these helicopters cannot be deployed to an accident until the ambulance service assesses the medical needs of the patient,” he highlighted.
Naughten added: “In some instances another ambulance is needed to carry the patient from the landing site to the hospital itself.”
He pointed out that during winter months there may be as little as six hours of flying time per day, while the darker months see an increase in road traffic accidents.
He claimed: “Sadly in Ireland we have seen an approach to health reconfiguration that ignores the patient.”
Concluding his remarks, Naughten asked: “Does anybody ever consider how the seriously ill patient can access these state-of-the-art services if they are hundreds of miles away, waiting on an ambulance to come?”