Hospital air transfer service put forward as a viable option, writes LORNA SIGGINS
ROSCOMMON hospital campaigners are seeking a meeting with Minister for Health James Reilly to discuss a proposed air ambulance plan for the west and midlands.
Private company Lifeline Ambulance Services and the Roscommon Hospital Action Committee are proposing an inter-hospital air transfer service as a viable option, as concerns mount about the ability of existing ambulance services to cope with the closure of Roscommon hospital’s emergency department.
The HSE West has denied that there are any difficulties, as it has deployed an additional rapid response vehicle for the Roscommon area.
However, the Roscommon Hospital Action Committee (RHAC) says it has compiled a number of recent incidents where there were delays in transferring emergency cases from the Roscommon area to Galway.
John McDermott of the RHAC said the group was still campaigning to have Roscommon hospital’s emergency department restored but confirmed that it had been in discussions with Lifeline’s chief executive David Hall.
Mr Hall told The Irish Timesthat a phased approach, involving inter-hospital patient transfer, could prove economically viable.
The recent controversy surrounding the transfer of Leitrim liver transplant patient Meadhbh McGivern to London also showed that an “ad hoc” arrangement provided to the HSE by the Irish Coast Guard and Air Corps was not sufficient, Mr Hall said.
“We estimated it costs €0.5 million a year to run one extra ambulance, while a leased helicopter stationed five days a week in Roscommon would cost between €75,000 and €80,000 a month,” he said.
“This could be available for inter-hospital transfer from other areas in certain emergency cases,” he added.
The Department of Health and the HSE confirmed several months ago that they had started discussions with a Kerry-based charity, Air Ambulance Ireland, on cover in the southwest. The charity is chaired by Fine Gael councillor and Tralee Institute of Technology lecturer, Pat McCarthy.
Trials initiated by former transport minister Noel Dempsey earlier this year found that Irish Coast Guard’s existing S-61 Sikorsky helicopters were deemed to be unsuitable under Irish Aviation Authority transportation rules for emergency medical services. However, the Irish Coast Guard says its replacement fleet of S-92 helicopters will qualify for such transport.
Siptu, which represents paramedics, says any such service must be under national ambulance service control. Acting health division organiser, Paul Bell, noted a reported comment by the minister that the value of an air service “probably lay in its psychological support rather than the actual use”.
Mr Bell said: “We’d be concerned that this is about providing air cover for backbenchers rather than for ill patients in need of immediate access to accident and emergency services.”