HSE explains two-hour delay for ambulance to Knocknacarra

A delay of two hours and 23 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the location of an emergency call in the Knocknacarra area was due to higher priority demands on the service at the time, the HSE has told the Galway City Tribune.

The HSE have confirmed that they received the emergency call at 7.10pm on the Saturday evening of July 9 last and that the ambulance arrived at the scene at 9.33pm, with the patient arriving at University Hospital Galway at 10.20pm.

Last month, the husband of the middle-aged woman who had collapsed on the floor of her Knockncarra apartment with severe abdominal pain, told the Galway City Tribune of making several emergency calls to try and get an ambulance to the scene.

He described how his wife was in terrible pain after collapsing and that all had wanted was for the ambulance to come as quickly as possibly – when they did arrive shortly after 9.30pm, the husband said the ambulance crew were ‘first class, professional, kind and obliging’.

According to a statement issued by the HSE the call was ‘triaged’ [categorised in order of importance], ‘using the recognised Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (AMPDS) in accordance with the internationally recognised protocols.

“The National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) emergency call dispatcher immediately tasked an ambulance at 19.10hrs [7.10pm]: however due to the high level of emergency calls at the time the responding ambulance was redirected to a higher acuity [keener, more acute priority] call.

“The next available resource was tasked to the call: however, they, too, were redirected to a higher acuity call and an emergency ambulance arrived at scene at 21.33hrs [9.33pm].

“The patient received pre-hospital emergency care by the attending paramedics and was transported to University Hospital Galway arriving at 22.20hrs [10.20pm],” the HSE said in their statement.

During the course of the incident on July 9 last, the husband of the woman had contacted HSE West Forum member, Cllr. Padraig Conneely, who had also phoned the ambulance service shortly after 8pm – he said he was told they would be there in about five or 10 minutes.

This week, Cllr. Conneely told the Galway City Tribune it was ‘outrageous’ that it took an ambulance the best part of two-and-a-half hours to make the approximately one-mile trip from the hospital to Knocknacarra.

“I will be pursing this matter further and will be raising the issue at the next meeting of the HSE West Forum. It is just not good enough for an ambulance to take so long to respond to an emergency call,” said Cllr. Conneely.

“There is simply no reason why an ambulance should have taken so long – it is inexplicable,” said Cllr. Conneely.

The woman was subsequently treated at UHG for five days before being discharged.