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Dáil
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Delayed ambulance response

Summary

Paul McAuliffe reports that a 91-year-old woman lay injured for over four hours awaiting an ambulance. The Taoiseach agrees this is unacceptable and will seek information from the ambulance service.

I want to raise with the Taoiseach a fairly harrowing incident that took place in my constituency over the weekend. Mary, a 91-year-old lady, fell and injured her hip at 2.15 p.m. and despite an ambulance being called, none attended to her until 6.15 p.m.. She was waiting, lying on the ground, for over four hours for an ambulance. A member of the Garda Síochána was there to assist her, and members of the public were there. This has caused widespread consternation in our community and led to other people worrying. Will the Taoiseach help me get to the bottom of what has happened here? Will he make sure that we have continued investment in our fire-based emergency service in Dublin, of which we are very proud? Will he also help bring an end to the practice whereby ambulance drivers have to wait at acute hospitals for long periods to transfer patients from their care into the care of the hospital?

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I thank Deputy McAuliffe. I certainly will try to help him to get the background to what happened here if he could feed more information and details to me. As he is aware, the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service covers the Dublin area. It is unacceptable that a woman would be lying on the ground for four hours. I will get a response from the ambulance service for the Deputy.

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