€950 being spent daily on private ambulance service transferring Sligo patients less than 2km

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

A meeting of the Regional Health Forum West in Galway this week heard that €950 a day is being spent on a standby private ambulance for patient transfers between Sligo University Hospital and the satellite campus, St John’s, at Ballytivnan which is less than 2km away.

A reply to a question posed by Cllr Declan Bree revealed nearly €350,000 is being spent annually to hire a private ambulance for the purpose of transferring patients between SUH and Ballytivnan.

Reacting to the answer provided to his question, Cllr Bree hit out at what he described as a “squandering of public funds.”

Cllr Bree added, "I have to admit that I am at a loss to understand why the Management of Sligo University hospital would pay €950 a day or nearly €350,000 a year to hire a private ambulance to transfer patients between Sligo University Hospital and the Satellite ward at St John’s campus just around the corner at Ballytivnan. That will be over a million euro in a three year period – to hire an ambulance! According to the response I have received, approximately three journeys a day are undertaken by the ambulance. "This is an astronomical cost and in my opinion it can only be described as the squandering of public funds. "How can the Management of the hospital and the HSE justify such spending? Why in the name of goodness can the HSE not provide its own ambulance? "Needless to say I find this type of spending unacceptable and I will be seeking further information on this at our next meeting."

Cllr Bree also raised the issue of the cost associated with transferring food, lab samples, files and pharmaceuticals between the two facilities, a matter he raised at a previous meeting of the Regional Health Forum.

Addressing the meeting Cllr Bree said, “Following questions which I submitted at the last meeting of the Health Forum it came to light that the Management of Sligo University Hospital is paying a private company €400 a day which is a total of €146,000 in the current year, for the use of a minibus to transport food, lab samples, files and pharmaceuticals, from Sligo University Hospital to the satellite ward in St John’s campus, around the corner in Ballytivnan. "In contrast we learned that the Hospital Management is paying a separate private company €20 a day, or €7,300 in the current year, for the use of a second minibus to transport medical files from the Medical Records Department in Sligo University Hospital to the Diabetic Hub on Clarion Road. "I said at our last meeting that paying €400 a day to transport food, lab samples, files and pharmaceuticals from the hospital to St John’s campus was unacceptable.

"Over the years meals for patients in the 82 bed St John’s residential care home have been prepared on site in St John’s. "The new satellite ward in St John’s has 26 beds. In this context I have to ask why the meals for the patients in the satellite ward are not also prepared in St. John’s rather than have them prepared in Sligo University Hospital and then transporting them to the St John’s campus. "I note from the reply I have received today that the tenders for the bus services were initiated through the National Transport Authority and that the HSE appears to be satisfied with the costs. I find that amazing. "I have to say that in my opinion paying €146,000 a years to transport food, lab samples and files from the Hospital to St John’s, is wasteful and I believe it further erodes public trust in the HSE."

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.