€10k for Galway rescue choppers – when Aer Arann would have cost €400

The scrambling of two separate Coast Guard helicopters to bring a patient with a broken ankle from Inis Mór to University Hospital Galway – at an estimated cost of around €10,000 – has been branded a “crazy waste of money”.

And it’s not the first time the bizarre ‘double up’ on rescue helicopters has happened on the islands.

Last Saturday, an elderly tourist fell and broke her ankle on Dún Aengus, and ambulance control – based in Castlebar – scrambled the Coast Guard’s Rescue 115 helicopter from Shannon.

However, when the helicopter landed on Inis Mór, it was immediately sent to Kerry, where a diver suffering from decompression sickness (the bends) had to be brought to UHG’s recompression unit.

Ambulance Control is understood to have refused to allow the patient to be transported on an Aer Arann Islands flight – at a cost of around €400 – and subsequently scrambled Rescue 117 from Waterford to bring the tourist from Inis Mór to UHG.

With running costs of each chopper estimated to be around €4,000 per hour – including crew, maintenance, fuel and insurance – Saturday’s operation is believed to have cost in the region of €10,000.

The HSE has refused to provide details of the cost to the Connacht Tribune, instead suggesting a request should be made under the Freedom of Information Act.

A series of specific questions were put to the National Ambulance Service in relation to such incidents, but were answered with a generic statement on the air ambulance service.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.