A 90 year old Co. Louth woman with a broken hip who had to wait 100 minutes for an emergency ambulance is yet another glaring example of the need for a complete overhaul of the emergency ambulance service in the county and beyond.
Aontú Rep for Louth, Michael O’ Dowd says
“A hip fracture in a 90 year old woman is not a minor fall, it is a high risk medical emergency. These cases are treated as urgent internationally ,because delays dramatically increase the risk of complications, loss of independence, and even death.
Yet in Ireland many of these calls fall into a middle triage band that is clinically serious but operationally vulnerable to long waits.
We need a modern ambulance system in the northeast that reflects what is already working across Europe.
In many countries, Paramedics are supported to assess, treat, and refer patients in the community, instead of automatically bringing everyone to overcrowded emergency departments. Our paramedics are highly trained and ready for this level of responsibility.
This approach would help older people stay at home when it is safe to do so .
This would help ambulances to respond faster and reduce pressure on hospitals.
Here in Louth and Meath we are still too reliant on a hospital first model and the system is struggling as a result .
People locally are all too familiar with the frequent stories of 10,12 or even 14 ambulances waiting outside Our Lady of Lourdes hospital with patients still on board .
This is not fair on patients or crews.
Introducing modern triage and ‘treat at home pathways’ would allow advanced paramedics to make more clinical decisions in the community and reduce these dangerous bottlenecks.
This is not about lowering standards, it is about bringing the northeast up to modern proven standards.
Patients deserve timely care and frontline crews deserve a system that works
We need greater transparency around ambulance prioritization and a system that recognises frailty and age as high risk”.
