Mother Forced To Drive Unconscious Child To Hospital

Sinn Féin TD for Donegal South West Pearse Doherty has expressed shock and outrage at an incident in which a mother, who called for an ambulance, was forced to drive her unconscious child to Letterkenny General Hospital in her own car with a paramedic in the back as there was only one paramedic on duty at the time.

Speaking in response to the incident Deputy Doherty said: "I was outraged to hear that such an incident occurred last Tuesday. It is reported that an emergency call was made for an ambulance to attend to a young child, who was unconscious.

"An ambulance was dispatched with one advanced paramedic, who was driving the vehicle. At the scene, the paramedic made the clinical decision, based on the needs of the child, to travel back to the hospital in the back of a car driven by the mother of the young child.

"When I sought clarification from the HSE on this matter, it was confirmed that the advanced paramedic was indeed working on his own from 5pm to 8pm on the evening in question.

"It was explained to me that this was due to staff reporting sick and requesting force majeure leave at short notice. I would ask why alternative arrangements were not made to ensure that there were at least two paramedics available to respond to any emergencies.

"It is completely unacceptable that a mother be required to drive her child to hospital in such circumstances, in a vehicle which is not adapted to the needs of the situation, simply because there is inadequate staff to drive the ambulance.

"It is my understanding that the paramedic in question requested that two paramedics who lived nearby be contacted to assist at the scene but this request was refused. This is the effects of budget cuts and austerity on our public services. Sinn Féin has been raising this very issue with the HSE for some time now and we clearly see the impact in this case."

(CD)