Mayo dismay over baffling emergency services ruling
Emergency services are being undermined in Mayo due to a lack of a coordinated approach, a Mayo TD has asserted.
Deputy Dara Calleary revealed that members of the Mayo fire and rescue services are equipped and trained to act as first responders for cardiac arrest incidents. . .yet they are not currently permitted to undertake the action.
The Ballina-based representative said while the reason may relate to governance issue, the situation cannot be permitted to continue.
He has asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Darragh O'Brien, to conduct an immediate review of the matter.
Deputy Calleary told The Connaught Telegraph: “Due to an arrangement in place, only members of the ambulance service are permitted to act as first responders for cardiac arrest cases.
“At a time when they is overwhelming pressures on ambulance personnel, this arrangement does not make sense.
“In the event of the fire or rescue services being first on the scene where a person has suffered a heart attack, they must wait for an ambulance to arrive unless instructed otherwise.
“This is a serious situation and one that needs to be urgently addressed. My understanding is that this situation does not exist in Dublin, so why is it in place in Mayo?
“The need for greater coordination of all our emergency services is very evident. This problem has to be fixed by the National Ambulance Service in partnership with the Department of Local Government.
“I intend to ensure that this happens in the short term and I will keep raising the issue until it is.”
In response to the Mayo TD, Minister Dara O'Brien outlined: "The feasibility of fire services, outside the Dublin Fire Brigade area of operations, being commissioned by the HSE to provide a response service in support of the NAS in responding to life-threatening emergency calls was discussed at national level at the Fire Services National Oversight & Implementation Group, which consists of fire service management and staff representatives and it produced a discussion document as the basis to underpin discussions with the health sector.
"The document was discussed at the management board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management in July 2018 where a number of issues including the transfer of risk and mechanisms for funding were raised that remain as items of discussion with the Department of Health.
"Any proposal for formalising this assistance would need to be subject to appropriate governance and cost reimbursement arrangements and to be set in the context of a service agreement with the HSE/NAS which would not impact on or adversely affect fire services' primary roles.
"It is critical that local authority and fire services' resources are not inappropriately diverted from their statutory fire service and fire safety responsibilities."