Fianna Fáil TD says ambulance delays are “utterly unacceptable”

Concerns have been expressed over a “clear and present risk” to patient safety in the aftermath of reports a Dublin man was left waiting for three-and-a-half hours for an ambulance on Friday.

The man, from the Knocklyon area of the city, reportedly contacted 999 at 5.15pm and family members made a further four calls over the duration of the delay, to be told they were in a queue of up to 16 other people awaiting a response.

The family was told the reason was due to a delay in processing patients from ambulances in hospitals and a knock-on effect on the speed with which ambulances could respond to subsequent calls.

The issue of ambulances being stuck for considerable durations outside hospitals is not new and has been raised in the past by medical sources.

John Kidd, chairman of the Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association (Ifesa) told the Irish Times it was not an isolated incident but was symptomatic of an ongoing problem.

“A lot of [ambulances] are held outside casualty. We have 11 ambulances in Dublin and on one night 10 of them were stuck outside the Mater,” he said.

A spokesperson for Dublin Fire Brigade, which runs the majority of the city's ambulances, did not return requests for comment.

‘Clear and present risk’

In a statement Fianna Fáil said the matter represented a "clear and present risk" to patient safety and calls into question the adequacy of the service.

Health spokesman Billie Kelleher said he is "genuinely concerned by media reports detailing a litany of explanations as to why a patient had to wait. This is utterly unacceptable".

“The explanations apparently given for the delays, such as trolleys not being cleared in emergency departments to be put back into service in ambulances is one I have been hearing about and highlighting on a regular basis.”

Although the outcome of the case remains unclear, RTÉ reported a spokesperson last night as saying an ambulance had at last been dispatched, and said there had been a shortfall in availability.

In a statement, the HSE said the National Ambulance Service “received an ambulance call from Dublin Fire Brigade control at 20.28 hours, responded immediately and transported the patient to hospital”.

A triage process - where a patient’s medical needs are assessed - was conducted over the phone.