Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The debacle caused by the National Ambulance Service over the past weekend has to be seriously investigated. The NAS caused fury in counties Cork and Kerry when it announced further reduction of services covering these areas. This effectively was leaving no ambulance cover for the Skibbereen area on Mondays, no service in Castletownbere on Tuesdays, no day service in Clonakilty and Bantry on Thursdays and no service in Bantry every second Tuesday night. Losses of day services were also announced for Mallow on Mondays, Millstreet on Tuesdays, Macroom and Fermoy on Wednesdays and Kanturk on Thursdays, and all were announced with no consultation with staff or the public by the NAS. This was nothing short of a stunning blow to these communities, which, I might add, they did not take lying down. They came out fighting and this decision was reversed yesterday after some swift action by us all. However, it leaves many questions unanswered.

Our ambulance service workers are working incredibly hard as they continue to save lives under enormous pressure, 24-7, but morale among ambulance staff is at an all-time low. Five staff with 20 years of experience and two graded advanced paramedics have left the service in the Cork county area in the past couple of weeks. The current roll-out of the ambulance service now and in the past few years has been reduced daily to an ambulance-chasing service, getting to people's homes three or four hours after a call, when the patient is gone. Families cannot bear to see a loved one lying in agony so they take the patient in their cars or whatever transport they can find. Not a week goes by but I hear some sad and shocking stories of loved ones left waiting hours and hours for an ambulance. Only last Friday, a GAA player near Cork city lay on a pitch with a suspected spinal injury for up to two hours waiting for an ambulance.

A report published less than two weeks ago showed clearly that Cork was the worst affected area in the State for high-priority ambulance calls that took more than one hour to get to a patient. However, instead of the NAS, the Department of Health or the Minister for Health intervening to put this shocking situation right, they almost ground the service to a halt. I will give a rough idea of how the Castletownbere ambulance works, and this is just one case. It already covers Castletownbere peninsula, which is huge, and it also looks after parts of Kerry, such as Kenmare. It covers as far as Newmarket and all the way down to Goleen and Kilcrohane in west Cork. The ambulance might get a call to Newmarket but when it gets an urgent call to Goleen, the fastest it can make it is in two hours and six minutes. This ambulance, which is meant to be in Castletownbere looking after people there, when in Newmarket might get a call to Ardgroom and the quickest it can make it is in one hour and 44 minutes. That is if it does not have a patient on board; if it does, it is another hour or more to each area.

Heads have to roll at the National Ambulance Service. How can someone at the top who has mismanaged the ambulance service for years cause further havoc and walk away as if nothing has happened? The current ambulance service, which has people waiting two, three or four hours, is an appalling service. I ask the Taoiseach, on behalf of every person in our communities, to demand that the Minister for Health introduce a new model ambulance service for the public that can respond to emergencies in less than one hour, no matter where they live. In this country, your life should not be determined by where you live.

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