Madam, - If the Hanley Report is implemented it will break the most elementary rule of all of emergency medicine: that appropriate aid must be administered to the victim within the first hour after the injury/event. This is the so called "golden hour". Anything less will seriously jeopardise the chances of survival or the avoidance of permanent disability.
No matter how well developed are the GP, first responder or ground ambulance service, a tourist or a farmer who suffers a ruptured spleen in an accident at Loop Head, Co Clare, will be much more likely to die. Even if he/she survives long enough to get to Limerick Hospital (bypassing Ennis Hospital - post Hanley) he/she will be much more likely to suffer irreversible damage to his/her kidneys.
I have been spearheading the campaign for an All-Ireland Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for some years now. I have met a succession of Government Ministers including Mr Michéal Martin, Bairbre De Brún, MP, and the North/South Emergency Care Body. A Government feasibility study report on an All-Ireland HEMS is overdue for publication.
Whatever about HEMS pre-Hanley, in a post Hanley environment with our bad roads and traffic, HEMS offers the only real chance of avoiding death and serious disability. - Yours, etc.,
Dr JERRY CROWLEY, Independent TD for Mayo, Mulranny, Co Mayo.