Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I refer to a case to which I have been alerted by a constituent. It sums up the problems people are experiencing in the health service which the new committee should examine and research. Obviously, the Minister and the HSE also need to provide answers. I have checked the details of the case with the constituent and they want to have this issue aired publicly. People want to have such details aired publicly in order to get answers but also to ensure these things will not happen again.

There was a catalogue of errors in the treatment of the woman in question, Mrs. Margaret Breen, who had a stroke in February. Her husband, Felix, has raised these issues with the hospital and the HSE. On Saturday, 20 February, Mrs. Breen suffered a stroke. Her husband rang for an ambulance from Huntstown, Mulhuddart at 1.48 p.m. The times have been confirmed by the National Ambulance Service. Despite there being an ambulance and a fire station located nearby, the ambulance came from Maynooth, County Kildare.

It arrived at the house an hour later at 2.44 p.m. According to reports on the ambulance service, it has eight minute and 19 minute response targets for ECHO and DELTA but this family had to wait an hour while the wife was clearly suffering a stroke. There must be answers to this.

To add insult to injury, the driver did not know the area, being from Kildare, and decided to go through Blanchardstown town centre on a Saturday afternoon, through the traffic and shoppers, adding to the journey time. It was en route to Connolly Hospital when it was discovered there is no stroke treatment there at weekends. The ambulance then had to make its way to the Mater hospital. Obviously, it arrived very late.

When Mrs. Breen was being treated at the Mater hospital, that was fine but in a specialist stroke unit, she suffered her second stroke on 23 February 2016 at approximately 6.15 a.m. The HSE needs to explain to all of us and to her family why somebody in a specialist stroke unit would be left unaccompanied to go to the bathroom and not checked when she failed to return. There was a 20 minute delay before anyone even noticed Mrs. Breen had suffered a second stroke in a specialised stroke unit. There was a further delay in her examination by the medical team, who did not review her until 6.55 a.m. These are all official times. A CT scan was ordered at 7.06 a.m. but did not take place until 7.57 a.m. Why does it take 51 minutes for a CT scan to be done on somebody who has suffered a second stroke in a specialist unit? We also need an answer as to why there was a delay in the ambulance transfer to Beaumont Hospital. Mr. Breen was telephoned at 8.10 a.m. to be told his wife had been transferred to Beaumont Hospital for an operation on her brain. He was told an ambulance had been called but no ambulance call went through until 8.41 a.m. A 999 call was made instead of a 2222 call and there were many other issues. Mrs. Breen did not arrive at Beaumont Hospital for the procedure to begin until 10.15 a.m. Four hours had elapsed between the woman having a stroke in a specialist stroke unit and being treated properly.

Mrs. Breen has had intensive rehabilitation but she has lost her short-term memory. We do not know what effect those delays have had on this woman's future quality of life and short-term memory recovery. Why put out ads telling people to respond within minutes to a stroke if an ambulance will not arrive for an hour? Why put out ads with taxpayers' money if ambulances cannot respond when people do notice a stroke? There is an increased prevalence of stroke in society among young people. This is a very serious issue and the committee, the Minister and the HSE must answer to this family with regard to why a woman waited four hours to get the treatment she needed. Eventually, she had to have a brain operation. There are real questions for the ambulance service. I am running out of time.

See this speech in context