Laois mother told there was no ambulances available in Laois for daughter's emergency

A young girl in Portarlington was forced to wait over an hour for an ambulance over the weekend, highlighting the immense pressure on Laois' ambulance services.

The 10-year-old girl's mother, Ciara, was speaking on Midlands 103 about how she had to call for an ambulance on Sunday after her daughter began to suffer a heavy nosebleed on her birthday. The nosebleed was of concern as the girl suffers from a blood disorder which means her blood does not clot.

After 25 minutes, it was clear that medical intervention was needed to stop the "excessive" bleeding.

Ciara said that the operator, who was "exceptional", spent an hour and nine minutes on the phone to her while they waited for the closest ambulance to arrive from Athy. She was informed that there were no ambulances available in Laois.

The mother described hearing this as a "punch in the stomach."

Ciara got in touch with local councillor Aidan Mullins to express her concern with the delays her family had to face on Sunday and the lack of services available in the county.

Speaking to the Leinster Express / Laois Live, Cllr Mullins reiterated Ciara's point that this is in no way a criticism of the medical staff who work very hard. He emphasised that resources are there, but the services are somehow lacking.

Comparing Laois' ambulance services to neighbouring counties, Cllr Mullins said: "On Monday and Tuesday nights there is only one ambulance in Laois with a population of over 90,000. Offaly has three ambulance stations in Tullamore, Birr and Edenderry. Kildare also have three ambulance stations. Yet Laois only have one."

He noted that despite the increase in population in Laois in the past 15 years, there has been a reduction in ambulance services in the county over this period.

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"It's obvious the service cannot handle the demand and people are being let down," Cllr Mullins said.

"It's very difficult to understand why our health service and emergency response service here are not being adequately funded and resourced."

Cllr Mullins stated that health staff are "stretched to the limit" and facing major burnout due to the pressure placed upon them.

Now, Laois TD Brian Stanley has also raised the issues with the ambulance services in the Dáil, particularly the dynamic deployment system which means ambulances based in Laois can be sent to other counties.

Addressing Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Dáil on Wednesday, April 22, Deputy Stanley said: "The ongoing problems with the National Ambulance Service are not being addressed. I raised the serious gaps in the ambulance service, particularly in County Laois, with the Taoiseach last year, and it is through no fault of the staff."

Similar to the points raised by Cllr Mullins, Deputy Stanley said: "The number of staff in the county has not increased in the past two decades, despite the explosion in population. Five vehicles are based in the county, with just two available most of the time, that is five nights of the week. On Monday and Tuesday nights, just one vehicle is available. These vehicles are often a long distance away, so if a serious incident arises, no ambulance is available to attend patients. This is happening on a regular basis in the county."

The Laois TD said that due to the dynamic deployment system ambulance crews in Laois can be sent to Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow, Westmeath and Waterford which then leaves an absence of available crews in the county. 

He noted that often when ambulances reach a patient's location, they are stood down and directed to turn back because another ambulance has already arrived. He recounted a recent incident wherein a crew from Portlaoise were just minutes from their destination in Wicklow when they were told to turn back.

"So called dynamic deployment is not working. Crews are chasing around the country, travelling long distances without picking up patients. One crew came on to a shift recently in Portlaoise and was despatched on six occasions. On four of those occasions, the crew was stood down, including when it was almost where the patient was. It was told to turn around and come back to Portlaoise empty," Deputy Stanley told the Taoiseach.

He said that people are forced to wait hours for an ambulance due to shortages and to make matters worse there is no rapid response vehicle in Laois despite there being 56 in the country. This shortage is then placing more pressure on the civil defence and fire services who must "pick up the slack."

The Taoiseach said he will speak to the Minister of Health about the emergency response vehicle for Laois and will ask her to reflect on and engage with the National Ambulance Service in terms of the model it uses.