Ambulance Waiting Times

14-11-2021 3:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118164766#Comment_118164766

Not at all.

the health service needs to be run better. There is plenty of money. It's a bit strange to suggest that hse inadequacies should be solved by banning immigration! Bit convenient for those old anti immigration advocates..........

Strumms · 14-11-2021 4:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118164822#Comment_118164822

My focus is on the convenience and wellbeing of those of us here...

there simply isn’t plenty of money our population is just shy of 5.1 million, growing at a fast rate..

if writing a cheque was the answer....between 2011 and 2016 out population grew 3.7%.. between 2016 and now....do we just keep writing cheques, that money has to come from somewhere ?

if we don’t have the capability to look after those of us here, our health , something needs to give. If my dad was having a heart attack he could be dead by now.

14-11-2021 5:54pm

There is plenty of money in this country, nothing to do with writing cheques, the money is there it just needs to be used correctly.

If you dad was having a heart attack, the inadequacies in our health system are not because there are a few immigrants in th country.

Strumms · 14-11-2021 6:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118165272#Comment_118165272

the inadequacies are rooted in the demand placed on it as much as incompetence in managing it...you just want us building hospitals, buying ambulances, hiring, training paying for all of that, ad nauseam ? Has to be a cutoff point.

source · 15-11-2021 2:26pm

The inadequacies are in the high salaries of consultants and mangers in the HSE. The inadequacies are in the overly heavy management structure of the HSE. The Department of Health is one of the best funded departments in the country at 22.2bn, second only to the Department of Social Protection at 23.5bn, the next biggest budget item is Debt servicing and EU payments at 13.92bn.

The DoH is awash with money compared to literally any other government department except DSP, there should be no reason they cannot provide a decent service with the funds available, even taking inward immigration into account. The issues are not with the numbers seeking the service but with how the service is run. There have been news stories for decades about the bloated health services in this country and the associated mismanagement, and that is absolutely no reflection of the hardworking men and women on the frontline every single day.

Closing our borders is the last thing to be done to fix this particular problem. We would be more in line to tell the unions to bugger off, tell a lot of the ineffective management and civil service side of the DoH to go with them and completely restructure the entire service. No more lip service and no pandering to ridiculous ideas that it's immigrants putting strain on our health service.

Strumms · 20-11-2021 3:12am

It’s awash with money because it needs to be.

as the population grows at the rate of which it has the services can’t cope.

beds for rehabilitative treatments are like hens teeth. Also...

Sites for three new elective hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway are being sought as part of a €3.7 billion plan for the upgrade and expansion of the health service.

The hiring of 7,000 healthcare staff, to be based in the community, and implementation of a medium-term plan to reduce waiting lists are also sought between now and 2023. We’ll see how that goes... they should not have made decisions compromising the safety and wellbeing of Irish citizens/taxpayers that meant they'd have to implement them and implement their hands into ‘taxpayers’ pockets to fund it.

why ? Population growth is the main driver...

the main driver as to why people are waiting extraordinary times for ambulances.

20-11-2021 9:56am

Population growth is absolutely not why the ambulance waiting times are long, perhaps read the posts from actual ambulance drivers.

'compromising the safety and wellbeing of Irish citizens/taxpayers'

I'm afraid your agenda always shows itself.

Strumms · 20-11-2021 1:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118195376#Comment_118195376

My agenda is quite clear ....

value, safety and efficient services for taxpayers.

It’s population growth certainly... leading to A&E overcrowding, leading to ambulance shortages , i know ive been there....but why are a&e’s overcrowded ? why are we having to build and pay to build more hospitals? To try to keep up with the rapid population growth...

it will probably get to the point that you’ll only be taken to an a&e if it’s close to a death situation... otherwise it will be all on you to seek help privately.

source · 20-11-2021 6:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118196074#Comment_118196074

Well lets take Limerick as it is one of the most overcrowded hospitals in the country and also happens to be my hometown. Well, a while back (2009) the government thought it would be a great idea to close the ED in Nenagh and Ennis, to be replaced with "community health centres", these didn't materialise to the level promised and we're now left with a single ED for Limerick, North Tipp, North Cork, North Kerry, and Clare. That is the reason for the overcrowding in Limerick. They also closed the ED in St John's Hospital in Limerick City, now a minor injury clinic.

We've got a fantastic large new ED built in UHL, but the catchment area is just way too big because of government policy over a decade ago, not population growth. The hospitals are still there and underutilised. If they reopened both Nenagh, Ennis and St John's then you would find a lot of the overcrowding problems solved overnight.

Strumms · 21-11-2021 6:06am

Reopen all those hospitals though, who pays for the reopening and the running ? The people who are being squeezed currently, who’d get first dibs on accessing services there...not those paying for the reopening, not however a good number of those who’d be first in line to need them

Shield · 21-11-2021 11:02am

Mod:

@Strumms Enough of the suggestions that taxpayers ought to be entitled to preferential treatment of any government services. That’s not how emergency services work. In an emergency situation, if you need aid, you get aid, regardless of your status. You are free to open a discussion about this in Politics if you wish but this is not the place to continue that discussion. Please keep it on topic or the thread will be closed.

-Shield

mr cowen · 21-11-2021 11:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118197697#Comment_118197697

I can only speak for the dublin situation, as Ive never worked A/E work down the country, I agree..closing hospitals without supplying a viable alternative such as specialist clinic is not a solution, but neither is bringing alpha and Omega classed cases to a busy emergency dept.

there should be a pathway directly to clinics such as sprain and strains, minor trauma, mental health, alcohol induced ambulance calls, and that could be done at a local community level.

these clinics can then be incorporated in doctors and nurses clinical placements, while they are studying.

ED E · 21-11-2021 11:29am

It’s population growth certainly...

Its not.

Its age. People think of ES going to road traffic collisions, builders chopping their hands off etc. The biggest part of what they do is elder care. There was a show about the NAS (https://tilefilms.ie/productions/paramedics/) but it was short lived. You can also see https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09393rd .

There are frequent fliers that ambulances visit several times a week. Its an ineffective way of half caring for the elderly. We need to start building massive state run nursing homes. (Wont go further here in case its seen as politics).

babyboom · 21-11-2021 11:40am

My 95 year old mother was found delirious by her carer one morning a few weeks ago. We called an ambulance. They took four hours to arrive, said there was nothing wrong with her and left. The crew were very nice but just didn't want to know. I managed to get her to the gp the next day with help from my brother, who had to come up from Kerry. She was horrified that they hadn't taken her as she could have had sepsis. She's since been admitted to hospital. I've had to call the ambulance service several times over the past year or so for her and they've been pretty prompt at arriving, bit that experience was awful. They are dealing with a huge amount of elderly people and it's definitely contributing to waiting times etc.

mr cowen · 21-11-2021 11:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118200368#Comment_118200368

sorry to hear that, but did you not contact your gp first at a local level and get them to do a house call and access their patient and see weather the emergency dept. is the best place for her, maybe she could have been treated at home in the comfort of her own bed.

sometimes people can be waiting more than 4 hours in the emergency dept just to see a doctor even if the ambulance response was prompt.

babyboom · 21-11-2021 11:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118200414#Comment_118200414

The gp won't do house calls at the moment and I can't get her there without help as her mobility is very much impaired. I'm the only one in Dublin which is why the brother had to come up the next day to help. She thought my son had killed me and that she was still I'm the morgue identifying my body.

Chiparus · 21-11-2021 12:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118200292#Comment_118200292

They tried that in the UK, it does not work,

Thousands have died through reconfiguration , hundreds of lives have been saved.

mr cowen · 21-11-2021 12:34pm

really, i wouldnt have thought so, surely to god the answer doesnt lie with piling every non emergency into an over crowded A/E

Shield · 21-11-2021 8:11pm

Mod: Off topic posts deleted. Keep it on topic or the thread will be locked.

kala85 · 23-12-2021 7:56pm

If I needed an ambulance and couldn't get one from the HSE, could I call a private ambulance in an emergency and how much would it cost.

mr cowen · 26-12-2021 10:13am

you possibly could, if you have the money? but if the emergency is life threatening enough no matter where you are in this country their are fail safes and questions that need to be ask/answered by a 999 operator in place to sieve your call out in order to priorities a response. so if you cant or dont get an immediate response for an ambulance its most likely that the condition doesn't warrant one.

so the question then needs to be asked can you or the patient in question get to the emergency dept with their "emergency" by another means, i.e car or taxi????

kala85 · 26-12-2021 1:50pm

How much would it cost approximately

26-12-2021 2:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118374247#Comment_118374247

It depends on where you are, where you’re going, what’s wrong, etc. i also think lifeline etc only do patient transfers?

edit: nvm they do emergency calls! Still the cost isn’t mentioned on their site so I would then imagine it depends on the location, what the calls about etc.

edit (again): the blackrock clinic has a section on their site about private ambulance (no price) but it states:

Please be aware the ambulance is not a 999 / 112 service and therefore may not be able to attend to you in the immediate few minutes of your call. If you require an immediate ambulance response then the appropriate number to dial is 999 /112. This ambulance will bring you direct to the nearest public hospital Emergency Department.

so I guess calling for a severe emergency is off the table and it would be only for non critical calls so chances are you’ll have to wait a bit anyway!

yermanthere · 31-12-2021 2:02pm

As said before, one of the main drivers of 999 calls is care of the elderly. our elderly population is growing. However their care by family is shrinking rapidly. Companies that charge money for care ( nursing homes and homecare), will always overreact to health issues due to fear of litigation. Because Irish people like to sue. However even within family units there is growing evidence of moving patient to hospital, when " care" could quite simply occur at home. Note I do not say easily occur. Looking after someone with a fever/ vomiting/ diahorrea is not easy. But it is simple. It just requires work.

Also Covid has shown a lot of people who regard their personal care as paramount even when they are young and fit. Since the start Covid illness has been clearly described as fever, shortness of breath, cough, tiredness. All of these symptoms can be treated at home, with easily found medications/ supplements. Many choose 999 instead.

NAS has not expanded in decades.

Call volume increasing by 3% a year, EVERY YEAR.

There is no blame here. Just simple auditing.

999 Ambulances are for patients who are too sick or injured to make their own way to hospital. Paramedics are there to initiate rapid treatment of unstable patients. They are not there to perform the role of " taking people to hospital".

NAS and DFB staff do not have the freedom to assess patients and say if they need hospital. They are not supported by either their employer or the state. Please do not call 999 for a check up.

If society started to take personal ownership of themselves and family, calls would be reduced by a third overnight.

mr cowen · 01-01-2022 10:49am

well said

Ambulance Waiting Times

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