Fears grow in Cork region as its widely-deployed ambulances are ‘rarely where they belong’

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

West Cork’s ambulance cover is totally inadequate for the demands for a sprawling region with an aging population and it’s putting lives at risk, according to local councillors.

At this month’s meeting of the West Cork Municipal District, Cllr Finbarr Harrington said that on paper West Cork has four 24-hour ambulances based in Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Bantry and Castletownbere and one 12-hour ambulance based in Dunmanway. However, the reality on the ground is very different.

“Vehicles are rarely where they belong. For example, Clonakilty is often in Cork city on callouts, Castletownbere is often in Kerry. Bantry is often stuck in CUH during lengthy handovers and sometimes when this is complete they can be sent to the city to cover a callout,” he said.

“This then leaves West Cork completely exposed with little or no cover especially at night because Skibbereen is then expected to cover the whole of West Cork and if they get deployed, then the nearest ambulance cover to West Cork is 2 to 3 hours away.”

The independent councillor said it has happened that the nearest ambulance to cover Castletownbere has been in Cahersiveen, which is 3 hours away. On other occasions an ambulance may be dispatched on a two-hour journey to an incident but after a lengthy trip is told to return to base because an ambulance closer to the scene has become available.

“Our ambulance staff are fantastic, dedicated, hard-working people and they deserve to be treated much better than they are at the moment. The national ambulance service needs to urgently look at the current system of deploying ambulances because it is not serving the staff very well or the people of West Cork,” he said.

Cllr Harrington’s colleagues were in agreement. Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy said West Cork needs more paramedics and more ambulances. “If you got sick in Glanmire you'd be in Tallaght hospital quicker than if you got sick in Allihies and had to go to CUH,” he said.

Cllr Danny Collins said he has spoken to paramedics who are working “well over 70 hours a week” while Cllr Joe Carroll called it a “Third World service.”

Based on Cllr Harrington’s motion, the Municipal District agreed to write to the Director of the National Ambulance Service, the CEO of the HSE, and the Health Minister to ask them to urgently address the issue.