A Sligo councillor is claiming Sligo University Hospital is spending the equivalent of more than €10,000 a week hiring private ambulances.
Independent Socialist Councillor Declan Bree says he finds it shocking that this is happening at the same time as the hospital is crying out for funding to care for patients and provide adequate services.
He says the hospital spent a sum of €586,000 last year hiring private ambulances and more than €600,000 in 2018..
He obtained the figures at a meeting of the HSE’s Regional Health Forum West, of which he is a member and a former chairman.
Cllr Bree says the failure to provide necessary resources to the National Ambulance Service leaves regional hospitals with no option but to rely on private ambulances.
