Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A total of 174 out of 823 calls took over an hour to clear in GUH. That is nearly three times as many as were cleared within 20 minutes. That is always a problem but it is a much bigger problem if the ambulance which is waiting outside has come from an area that only has one ambulance within 30 miles of its base. Are there proposals to ensure ambulances from stations with no back-up vehicle will be given priority and can disgorge patients so that it can get back out on the road? That is one simple thing that could be done. Is there a process to prevent an ambulance from Clifden or An Cheathrú Rua, where there is no other ambulance nearer than Westport, sitting in Galway for over an hour when somebody else needs an ambulance? Will the Minister give an instruction that areas where there is only one ambulance cannot be pulled into Galway as back-up, leaving a very extensive area without any ambulance cover within a reasonable distance? These issues can and must be dealt with immediately.

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