It seems that there are still major issues surrounding the running of ambulance services in the North West.
Over the past month ambulances based in Donegal were deployed to areas as far away as Belmullet in county Mayo. and Tipperary.
There are also reports of a patient being transferred in a Garda car to Letterkenny University Hospital due to the lack of ambulances.
Ambulance personnel have been under increased pressure since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fears have been expressed that ambulance crews are facing burnout and often have to endure long delays at hospitals while waiting to have patients removed from their vehicles and admitted into hospitals.
Donegal TD Thomas Pringle first raised concerns in relation to the issue as far back as 2014.
He’s calling for three extra ambulances to be deployed to Donegal with one of the new ambulances being stationed in Killybegs.
Deputy Pringle says ‘the response based model’ being used by the HSE is leading to incidents where ambulances have been sent from Manorhamilton to Dunloge.
