The call comes after it took just short of nine hours at the weekend for an ambulance to be dispatched from Loughlinstown Hospital in South Dublin to a premises in Gorey.
Local Sinn Fein TD Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin says the scarcity of advanced paramedic cover in the Wicklow-Wexford constituency needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency"
In a statement Deputy Ó Súilleabháin said
Many within the service believe the delay is most certainly down to staffing issues which will continue to be an issue, as many paramedics are actively looking for other lines of employment outside of the NAS due to the simple fact that there is no longer any progression within the role of Paramedic.
The NAS Director was in front of the Leinster House Public Accounts Committee last year and was questioned at length regarding the current capacity of the NAS and the future projections for meeting the demand and alternative care pathways that the NAS can engage to treat patients in their own homes, thus, easing the pressure on our ED’s.
These projects, however great they may sound are at the present time understaffed and under resourced and have been placed at the forefront of the NAS training programme at the expense of the Advanced Paramedic Programme.
This programme was the only one that offered clinical progression for Paramedics within the NAS and which just about brings Paramedics in this country up to international standard.
This progression has now been removed from staff, decreasing the level of Advanced Paramedics on ambulances across the state.
Lives are being put at risk. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency."
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