Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to respond to this issue regarding the national ambulance service, which is an issue in Kerry but also nationwide. It is about joined up thinking with regard to our national ambulance service and how the lack of that has affected Kerry, Cork and many other rural areas.

The epitome of the position was highlighted by a response from officials within the national ambulance service when they were withdrawing ambulances from west Cork. They told a local action group concerned about the effect of that in terms of life and death situations that was what they got for living in a rural area. Kerry was at the tail end of this process of reconfiguration or, as they like to call it, dynamic deployment, which is basically guessing where the next heart attack will take place - it is like Russian roulette when it comes to an ambulance service. In Kerry, fewer than 60% of the ambulances arrive within the 19 minute response time set by the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, for emergency cases such as heart attacks, strokes and car crashes. The only way they will meet those response times is if they expand the length of time.

We are in a very rural area and we have seen ambulances being withdrawn. The Millstreet ambulance was withdrawn almost two years ago. That also covered a large part of east Kerry. Subsequently, one of the two emergency ambulances in Killarney was withdrawn and the strain on the system is evidenced by the fact that every month or so, there is a headline in The Kerrymanor Kerry's Eyeabout how it took 50 minutes for an ambulance to get to Kenmare, Caherciveen or Dingle. That is complicated by the fact that when the ambulance arrives, and it is an excellent service because the paramedics are highly trained, it then goes to Cork where there could be a three hour wait just to have the patient admitted to Cork University Hospital because of a systems failure that has been ongoing in that hospital for years, which is amazing. That has been acknowledged by the Health Service Executive, HSE, and yet it continues.

This situation is costing the HSE more money because as the Minister of State will be aware, if stroke or heart attack victims do not get help immediately, their chances of recovery are greatly lessened. If they do not die their recovery takes longer, which means they tie up those beds in Cork University Hospital and throughout our national hospital network. There are also physiotherapy, speech therapy and other ancillary costs because the ambulance did not get to those patients in time.

There was a tragic case in south Kerry, which resulted in a fatality. The ambulance in Caherciveen was not available and there was not one available in Killarney. The ambulance had to come from Kenmare, which is nearly 50 minutes away. By the time it arrived, it was decided that the victim, who was suffering a heart attack, should go to Cork University Hospital. The helicopter was called from Shannon. It was now two hours after the initial call. When that patient stepped onto the helicopter he said, "I am in trouble, aren't I?", and he ended up dying on the operating table because the ambulance in Caherciveen had been pulled, as had the ambulances in Killarney and Millstreet. Tragedies are occurring as a result of these ambulances being withdrawn.

Next weekend Cork will play Kerry and we will have 40,000 people in Killarney, but there will be only one ambulance in the town. Killarney is unique because its population can double on any given weekend and yet it has only one ambulance. Very few towns can say their population will double on any given weekend and to have just one emergency ambulance in that situation is far from ideal.

I ask the Minister of State to look into that because not having ambulances available, and the cost of rehabilitation for those who do not get an ambulance in time, is costing the taxpayer a fortune.