South-east ambulance resources
Deputy Cahill said ambulance resources were being regularly drawn from the mid-west to the south-east, leaving Thurles short and response times affected. The Taoiseach said he understood the seriousness of the issue and would speak to the National Ambulance Service.
I want to raise an issue I previously raised, namely resources for the ambulance service in the south-east region. Last weekend, as happens every weekend, resources from the mid-west region are sent into the south-east to provide an ambulance service there. The ambulance unit from the Thurles station spends most of the weekend in the Clonroche and Wexford area and servicing Waterford. This means the ambulance station in Thurles is without its service. This has a serious impact on response times to get to a patient when a call for an ambulance is made. This is happening consistently and the HSE needs to put enough resources into the south-east on a constant basis as opposed to redeploying ambulance crews from the mid-west, which leaves that region without a proper service.
