Senator Jennifer Murnane O’Connor has questioned why four HSE ambulances in Carlow are left at its base while ambulances from as far as Wexford are mobilised to call-outs in County Carlow.
Speaking to KCLR96fm this morning, the Carlow Senator questioned the structure of the Carlow Ambulance Service and said more needs to be done to improve the service locally and to ensure that ambulances which are parked at the ambulance base in at St. Dymphna’s Hospital on the Athy road are used for Carlow calls.
Photo: Carlow Ambulance Base
The recently appointed Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government in the Seanad was speaking to Eimear Ní Bhraonáin on the show following a call from a Kilkenny listener called Delia, who recounted a harrowing experience over the weekend in which a man named Martin fought for his life following a suspected heart attack.
The caller feared for the man’s life as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. ‘He was holding his chest; he was clearly in pain. It was a terrible experience waiting for an ambulance’.
Photo: Senator Murnane O’ Connor
Senator Murnane O’ Connor said she has up to eight motions waiting to bring before the Seanad, but said the lack of funding keeps coming back. “In relation to the availability of ambulance’s and ambulance crews in Carlow, the same answer keeps coming back; funding, funding, funding. There should be no price on a life’ she said.
The Senator is to contact the HSE about the matter of ambulance availability in County Carlow.
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