A Sligo councillor has been told that parking bays for ambulances at a new Primary Health Care Centre in the south of the county cannot be used by ambulance crews because of lack of resources at present.
At this week’s Regional Health Forum West meeting in Galway, Fine Gael Councillor Dara Mulvey asked when the ambulance facilities in Ballymote would come into operation.
He said ambulances from the location could serve south, east and west Sligo, from Ballyfarnon to Enniscrone and from Aclare to Killaraght and onto Charlestown.
He added that Ballymote’s central location in this area would take 30 minutes off response times compared to the existing service from Sligo University Hospital.
Paudie O Riordan, chief ambulance officer with the National Ambulance Service, said that while the ambulance deployment point in Ballymote is completed, present resourcing in the area does not immediately allow for deployment by existing crews.
Fine Gael Councillor Dara Mulvey says using the ambulance base in Ballymote would reduce response times for a large area of the south and west of County Sligo.
