News
Galway ambulance delays putting lives at risk
Patients’ lives are being put at risk because ambulances are forced to park outside hospitals across the West for hours.
New figures obtained by the Connacht Tribune reveal that more than 500 ambulances a month are parked outside University Hospital Galway (UHG) for more than a half an hour – 95 of them were waiting over an hour. The official figures were released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to Denis Naughten, Independent TD for the new Roscommon Galway constituency following a Parliamentary Question.
The recommended time is no more than a 20 minutes wait in hospital car parks.
Deputy Naughten said the figures are shocking and reveal how in total ambulances spent 532 hours parked outside the Emergency Department of UHG in the month of April, the latest month for which data was made available.
The figures show that 20% of all ambulances that arrive at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe are waiting for over one hour in the car park.
“It is a deplorable situation and I have no doubt that lives are at risk,” said Deputy Naughten.
“It is clear that the overcrowding caused by the closure of Roscommon A&E is putting huge pressure on Portiuncula, with one in every five ambulances forced to wait more than an hour to discharge their patient into the care of hospital staff.”
These delays or “turnaround times” are a measure of how long it takes an ambulance to clear a hospital after its arrival with a patient. It includes patient handover to clinical personnel within the hospital and the time taken to clean and replenish ambulances to be ready for the next call.
Turnaround delays have a direct impact on overall response times, as ambulances are held back from taking on their next 999 call, said Deputy Naughten.
He said the reason for the delays is twofold: The Emergency Department’s are overcrowded and have no beds or trolleys to accommodate the ambulance patients; or staff in the Emergency Department are too busy tied-up with more serious cases and so ambulance staff can’t ‘sign over’ their patients.
He said at one point last November, every ambulance that was stationed at Roscommon, Loughrea, and Ballinasloe was parked up outside UHG, with repercussions for ambulance response times across the West.
Deputy Naughten said: “This disclosure is nothing short of deplorable as it means that these ambulances are not available to respond to the next 999 call which in some instances could by hours away from the nearest emergency department.
“The figures clearly highlight the need to properly resource the emergency departments in Portiuncula and University Hospital Galway in order to meet the demands which are being placed upon them.
“However, it also again highlights the lack of capacity within the ambulance service, and the need to provide additional ambulances and crews to operate the new ambulance stations at Tuam and Loughglynn, in West Roscommon. Is it any wonder that the National Ambulance Service is failing to meet the HIQA target of having an ambulance at the scene of a life threatening emergency within 18 minutes?
“These figures are just another example of where the emergency services are failing the public who rely upon them due to inadequate resourcing, which effectively means that we have death by geography, for those who are forced to rely on the ambulance service to get to hospital.”
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – An extensive gorse fire in the Tonabrocky area this week – which raged for over 12 hours – at one stage threatened a number of houses in the area.
Fire Brigade resources were stretched as they battled on Wednesday evening to contain the fire which burned across several acres before being brought under control in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Fire brigade units from the city, Athenry and Carraroe fought the blaze, which at one point led to fears that residents in nearby houses would have to be evacuated.
Up to six fire tenders were involved in fighting the blaze which is thought to have started around 4 or 5pm on Wednesday – it was one of a series of gorse fires which occurred around the county over the course of the past week.
Fire Brigade personnel fought the blaze through the evening and into the early hours of the morning before eventually having it fully contained by 6am on Thursday morning.
The fire – which sent plumes of smoke several feet into the air and also across local roads – occurred at an area of commonage between Boleybeg and Tonabrocky.
Local councillor, John Connolly, has urged Galway City and County Councils to come together and launch an awareness’ campaign about the dangers of fires during extended periods of dry weather.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The HSE has paid €11.85 million for the building to house its new ‘Integrated Care Hub’ in Knockncacarra – which is €1.35m over the open market value of the office block.
Confidential HSE documentation seen by the Galway City Tribune shows that Block A in Galway West Business Park – the former Aviva Insurance building – was independently valued at €10.5m.
The HSE subsequently paid €11.85m for the property.
According to the documentation, the building will cost €14.85m to fit out – however, that figure was based on construction costs in February 2022 and is expected to rise again due to inflation. Just seven months prior to that estimate, the fit-out works were costed at €10.8m.
A planning application is currently being put together for a new ‘Enhanced Primary Care Centre’ in the building, which will house Primary Care Teams as well as a unit for chronic disease management. A total of 105 staff will be based there.
When the matter was brought to the Board of the HSE nationally, they were told the purchase price was €1.3m above market value.
The other option shortlisted by the HSE was a ‘new build’ on lands at Merlin Park – this was costed at €33.1m because it would involve “considerable site upgrade works” and would much longer to deliver.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Gardaí in the city are investigating two reported incidents over the weekend of indecent exposure and offensive sexual conduct – one of them at a beach in Salthill and the other in the Eyre Square area.
In the first of the incidents in Eyre Square on Friday last, a man approached a woman at around 5.30pm and exposed himself.
The woman reported the incident to the Gardaí who are carrying out an investigation into what happened.
The second incident – which is understood to be unrelated to the first one – occurred at a busy beach in Salthill on Bank Holiday Monday.
One mother who contacted the Galway City Tribune said that she saw a man ‘writhing up and down in the sand’ before putting his hand down in the front of his Bermuda shorts.
She said that about 10-minutes later, the man moved along to the next beach – which was also crowded with people – while another woman nearby, who saw the same actions, contacted the Gardai.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 9 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
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