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A FAMILY IN Co Galway were forced to have to drive their two-year-old toddler to hospital after an ambulance was delayed.
The family drove part of the way from a house in Carraroe and were due to meet the ambulance in Spiddal, when the ambulance was delayed further and they had to get a Garda car to drive them to University Hospital Galway.
The boy passed out twice during the journey, and is said to be “lucky to be alive”.
This has been described as one of a number of near-misses in the Carraroe area related to ambulance delays, which is suspected to be caused by limited resources.
Local Independent Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said that the incident “raises very serious issues about the deployment of ambulances in the region”.
It was in the region of an hour before they reached the child and would have been closer to two hours if the family had not acted themselves.
What happened
Two-year-old Kevin Griffin was on a one-week visit from Boston with his brothers and mother to visit family in Co Galway.
Last Friday just before 6pm, he began choking on a chip at a home in Clynagh, An Cheathrú Rua (Carraroe).
Kevin’s uncle, who was present at the time, said that an ambulance was called immediately. But after they realised it was coming from Galway city and not Carraroe, they decided to meet the ambulance half-way.
“If it was coming from Carraroe it would have been three or four minutes,” Kevin’s uncle Padraic Ó Cualáin told TheJournal.ie.
“There are two ambulances there, and they’re on call from 8am until 8pm. But when they get called to go into Galway [city] and they’re there for the day then.”
They kept in contact with the ambulance and agreed to meet at the Texaco garage in Spiddal. After the family arrived 15 minutes later, they got a call to say that the ambulance would be delayed further.
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So a Garda car stopped the traffic lights and escorted them the rest of the way. It was before 7pm when they reached the hospital; Kevin was treated there but had complications upon his arrival.
The issue is particularly sensitive for the family. Just over a year ago, another of Padraic’s nephews Cillian Ó Cualáin died in a similar incident. He was 17 months old. The family had waited outside the home for the emergency services – he said he wasn’t sure if a delays been an issue that day, but said that the Coast Guard helicopter had been on scene before the ambulance.
Padraic has emailed the National Ambulance Service this morning to lodge a complaint and asking for an explanation as to why there was a delay.
“The National Ambulance Service can confirm an emergency call was received for the Carraroe area, County Galway at 17.51 on 5 January 2017,” a HSE spokesperson told TheJournal.ie in response to a request for comment on the incident.
The call was categorised as an OMEGA response; minor illness or injury.
The National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) immediately dispatched the nearest available emergency ambulance at 17.52 which responded from Clifden ambulance station.
“The NEOC nurse adviser was in contact with the caller and was informed that the patient was being brought to Galway by car and an emergency ambulance was then dispatched from Galway,” the spokesperson said.
“The patient’s condition remained in the OMEGA category and as such resuscitation of the patient was not indicated or required. NEOC was also informed that the ambulance was no longer required as the Gardaí were escorting the car with the patient on board to hospital,” they added.
Resources
The ambulance delays are part of a longstanding issue for the Carraroe area.
Last June, a 60-year-old man who was suffering from an acute medical illness was left waiting on the side of the road for 57 minutes while waiting for an ambulance.
In another case an ambulance had to travel from Roscommon to respond to a call in Carraroe, and in another case the ambulance had a response time of two hours.
Three weeks ago, it was alleged that a man who was involved in a road traffic collision was left waiting on the side of the road for two hours before an ambulance arrived.
Ó Clochartaigh says that two other cases in Connemara have been brought to his attention “where delays in ambulance deployment are thought to have been factors in negative outcomes”.
He also said that there’s a question around why the local fire brigade weren’t contacted or deployed, as they would have been in the area.
“I am calling on the Minister of Health Simon Harris to investigate this case and to review the nature and protocols of the emergency services available in the Connemara and other areas in general, to ensure that this type of inefficiency does not lead to further near misses, or tragedies.”
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@Eoin Kenny: it’s going on alot longer than before Simon Harris took on the position as minister for health? Least we forget our current taoiseach held that position until 2016
@Eoin Kenny: Here Journal, stock photo or not, that’s is bad form using DFB, this happened in Galway FFS, show an NAS ambulance. People be thinking, that DFB are going to Galway.
“We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor” – Martin Luther King Jr.
In the case of a bank looking for money, we will have an emergency sitting of the Dáil and overnight, we will guarantee to back up their losses up to the value of €440 billion.
In the case of repeated needless deaths and near-death experiences as the result of an inadequately funded HSE, our government ministers will be “very concerned” and then go back to their molly-coddled lives after not doing a tap.
@David Huston: Step 1) Don’t give into their nihilistic way of thinking that *all* politicians are bad and evil and equally useless.
Step 2) Vote in anyone but FFG. As bad as Labour were last time around, they do have a few good candidates (banish Burton, Alan Kelly etc. forever though obviously). Then choose from People Before Profit, the Social Democrats, Sinn Fein, and some Independents.
And there has been some outstanding politicians in the past. Look what Frankling Roosevelt achieved in the US after the Great Depression and up to WW2. Look what Clement Attlee achieved in post WW2 Britain.
Incredible people are waiting among us to deliver what we badly need.
@Franklin Roosevelt: you win the internet again councillor…now back to enjoying capitalist Ireland while complaining about everything..SF and the rest would poo themselves if they got into power
@Franklin Roosevelt: I agree with a lot of the things you say , but we can’t have ambulances everywhere .
And as I was living away at the time , I find it hard to comprehend what went on in the Celtic tiger time .
But whatever it was , I see it repeating itself .
The reason why the ambulance service is in such a state is that people call an ambulance for non-emergency cases and feel entitled to receive an emergency response.
As an ‘omega’ case, this was not an emergency and therefore was not prioritised as presumably there were more serious incidents at that time. Just because you call 999 does not mean you are entitled to an emergency response. In other EU countries the ambulance service would refuse to respond to similar incidents.
@ED: I doubt it. It wouldn’t have been classified as an omega then. Omega is the lowest classification an emergency call can get. Like a sore toe or headache.
@ED: All calls to the ambulance service are prioritised according to an internationally accredited and verified system. Callers are asked a series of questions by the Emergency calltaker who is using the computer system and the call is given a priority based on information received. An Omega call is the lowest acuity that can be given in all other jurisdictions would not have an ambulance despatched. What’s deemed to be a “crisis” may not be an emergency at all.
@Ashling Fenton: You’re right in what you say , people should know basic first aid , especially people in rural areas where help is no always close by .
The family did the right thing to drive to meet the ambulance .
@Ashling Fenton: Yes, it can save a life. It seems that there were further complications. I’m going on what the medical report says. Glad they were quick to call for help, and aware of what else can happen.
Basic first aid is lifesaving all right. A colleague of mine took the full course, and the minute he completed it, every other person in his family had accidents. He certainly got plenty of practice in using what he’d just learnt.
@Jonathan Power: Heinrich manoeuvres are not the correct way to manage a every choking small child. Alternating back blows and either abdominal thrusts (older child) or chest thrusts (infant age 1 or less) are the current recommended therapy, or CPR if unconscious. Try searching for Resus Council Guidelines on choking instead.
It may seem trivial at first glance, choking is easily remedied most would say, but a chip is not solid, it will mush & stick, let us not forget that the brain can only go so many 100s of seconds without oxygen.
This episode sounds terrifying to child & parents alike.
Our government/governments have much to answer for.
Please folks … if you have a child in distress or anyone in you family in need of emergency care and an ambulance is more than 8 minutes away request your nearest fire service to attend … most crews are trained up to EFR AND CFR level
. And this service is under utilised … because of so called cut backs at local authority level … but its there … Just ask for it !!!!!!
@dusty: If the Chief fire officer doesn’t want their fire service to respond to “Ambulance assists” it won’t happen. In this instance it wasn’t an emergency
Not enough ambulances on call and nor enough positioned at distributed local locations, able to respond in a timely way in the case of an emergency. Delays are standard but are only occasionally life threatening.
How many are there and how many should there be? What is the current utilization of ambulances?
I don’t know the answer to these questions but obviously you do if you know there are not enough
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Ambulance based in clifden hospital would have nearly an hours travel on a good day to get to carraroe.slightly faster from galway. Still too long tho for an emergancy
@sean o’dhubhghaill: they could disinfect and restock in local centre if it was stocked with disinfectant and had a secure store for drugs. Not exactly rocket science.
Tragic tragic story. ..pity the journal used a photo of a dublin fire brigade ambulance in the story..who provide an exemplary service to the people of dublin. . when it was the National Ambulance Service who should have responded ..who are also so understaffed it’s obscene. .shame on the establishment. ..get your facts right journal. ..
Hey journal. Why are you showing. Dublin Fire Brigade Ambulance when on the subject of delays ?
DFB are the only ones who answer their calls on time !
Also this relates to Galway. Nothing to do with DFB
While parents might be proficient in Paediatric First Aid,there is always a degree of panic in these situations due to shock.Also in an older child it may not be easy to dislodge food as they are terrified and upset,and food has been lodged lower down.
If she passed out she probably needed resuscitation ..It’s a bit much expecting parents to have to deal with such an ordeal without medical support.The least you can expect is an ambulance for crying out loud.
What a bloody disgrace , well done to the emergency services who got the boy to the hospital in time , but this could of had such a tragic ending, the parents must be commended too for not waiting on the ambulance and taking matters into there own hands
Well private ambulances are contracted by the HSE as are the voluntary organisations all the time. Mostly it is for patient transfers but perhaps they could look at having contracts for on call services in rural areas. Now admittedly the ambulances would need to be staff by paramedics or even advanced paramedics for emergencies and not EMTs which a lot of private ambulances use for patient transfers. That’s not insurmountable though. There were ad campaigns l over Facebook recruiting paramedics. Well they could try paying the ones they have a little better and using the graduates off the new paramedic degree once they are finished.
I think our present Minister is the best we have had as a Minister of Health he’s done more than the famous Dr Reilly or Our Taoiseach for health care in Ireland
Everyone has to answer to someone. And the ambulance service is no different who is in charge what is the expected timeline that an ambulance should show up after call is called in.every town in every country must know this to ensure you have enough staff and ambulance to serve your local town. I am sure you have inspectors checking on the call logs every year to see how you are doing and what needs to be changed and how you can do better if you do not know there is a problem how can you change it everyone has to answer to someone and if that person is not doing their job they have to go. Because at the end of the day people’s lives are at risk.
And look I get it!! Every City Town and village are hard up for money. But at the end of the day they have a right to know how many ambulances they have and how many ambulances they should have for where they live and how long they should wait for an ambulance after a call is called in. lives are at risk .my God I have seen more go fund pages set up for a lot less and I’m sure if people knew they would raise funds for an extra ambulance if you need it. We can’t to better or change if we don’t know.
In a perfect world everything would be perfect. We always hear of the few failures. How many people are saved by the ambulance service that we don’t hear about. Again we don’t live in a perfect world
You can please some of the people some of the time and more of the people more of the time but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. All you can do is your best
@Tony Brady: do you hear what you’re saying !!!you can save lives some of the time but not all of the time and that the child can just choke to death? No the truth is you need to march down to your local ambulance service and ask them for our local community what is the expected time for them to show up after a call in to 999 that’s it and for their size of their town or location is that the guideline of time that they should show up.
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