‘You might as well call McDonald’s to get an ambulance’- Castlebar ambulance base left without full crew 15 times in three months
A meeting of the Regional Health Forum West North West has heard that the Castlebar ambulance base was without a fully staffed ambulance crew on 15 occasions over the past three months.
The issue was raised following a question from Mayo councillor Michael Kilcoyne, who voiced his disappointment over the provision of ambulance services in the county.
Brendan McGovern, General Manager of the National Ambulance Service in the West and North West, explained that these “single dropped shifts” are typically the result of short-notice sickness or unforeseen circumstances.
“There are occasions where there are no staff in the base. I accept that you can’t have staff everywhere waiting for [an incident] to happen, but at the same time this is supposed to be the headquarters,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.
The Castlebar-based councillor then highlighted the news that €110,000 has been earmarked for a new ambulance base in the county town under the HSE’s 2026 Capital Plan.
He asked if the funding announcement would mean there will be additional staff deployed to Castlebar, but was told there has been no commitment made to provide extra staffing resources alongside the announcement.
Mr McGovern welcomed the funding but explained it was about future capacity rather than providing an immediate increase in staff.
“When we are talking about a new base, we are talking about providing the tools to be able to expand the service into the future,” he explained. “[The funding] provides us with the opportunity to [expand] it in the future
Cllr Kilcoyne noted that “if you are left with the same resources the same problem will continue even if you have a new base”.
Mr McGovern explained that the National Ambulance Service operates on a countrywide basis and mobilises responses based on clinical priority, rather than on fixed locations.
This means that ambulances may travel to, and be dispatched, from various locations outside of their base.
Mr McGovern noted that while there are benefits for patients who are waiting for an ambulance in the community, it can mean there are instances where stations are left without an “immediately available crew”.
He explained this was not “indicative of the base's overall efficiency or the quality of service provided to the community, but is rather a reflection of periodic fluctuations in demand”.
While it was not possible to determine how often stations were left without an immediately available crew over the last three months, Mr McGovern confirmed that Castlebar experienced 15 single dropped shifts during that period.
In 11 of those cases, existing ambulance shifts were adjusted to release a solo rostered Advanced Paramedic, who was redeployed to a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) to maximise cover.
For the remaining four occasions the solo rostered staff member was paired with another solo shift from a nearby station to optimise resourcing and maintain a responsive service.
Mr McGovern said the challenges facing ambulance provision in Castlebar were not unique to the area, and were being experienced across the country.
There have been many occasions when there is nobody there
He added that the forum expects Castlebar to receive an additional ambulance as part of funding allocations for 2026.
Responding to Mr McGovern, Cllr Kilcoyne said: “The truth it that sometimes you might as well make a call to McDonald’s to get an ambulance as [opposed] to a call to the base in Castlebar to get an ambulance,
“There have been many occasions when there is nobody there. No paramedics or ambulance crew.”
Mr McGovern said this depends on the volume of incident calls at the time and acknowledged there were performance challenges across the region.
Paul Gallen, Head of Service Integrated Services (West) with the National Ambulance Service, told the meeting that the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for RED calls, for life-threatening emergencies not including any cardiac or respiratory incidents, is set at 45pc.
This means that just under one in every two such calls is expected to receive an ambulance response within the 19-minute target time.
The 45pc target was met by the National Ambulance Service in the year to date to November 2025.
“We do know that we do not have enough ambulances on the road, and we do know to hit the KPI we would need 108 more ambulances which is 1,236 staff - which is a significant investment,” Mr Gallen said.
He added that ambulances are a mobile service and that response times can sometimes be quicker when crews are on the road rather than waiting at a specific base.
“We accept we need more ambulances and that has been noted in the Oireachtas that we need more,” Mr Gallen said.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.