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Alive magazine– October 2004
AN Australian commission has halted attempts by the oil giant ESSO to put oil-rig workers on a 14-day shift, because the move would injure family life.
ESSO and its subcontractors wanted to change about 200 workers from a 7-days-on, 7-days-off roster, in order to save money on helicopter flights, thus boosting profits.
But the industrial Relations Commission ruled that the workers’ families must come first, and that the role of fathers was vital in the family.
“In this day and age fathers are not simply content to be the person who takes the children to the odd football match and on an occasional camping trip,” said the Commissioner.
A workers’ leader called the ruling a significant win against one of the world’s largest companies.
The Commission, he said, “has blown the wills-tie on a nasty, deceitful attempt break up families in the pursuit of marginal cost gains.”
Suicides may be hidden in road crashes
Psychologist believes 6% of one-car fatal crashes may be deliberate
DANIEL Attwood
Some fatal crashes could be disguised suicides rather than road accidents, a leading psychologist has claimed.
Dr John Connolly, consultant psychologist at the Western Health Board and secretary of the Irish Association of Suicidology, claims that as many as six per cent of fatal single-vehicle s crashes in Ireland could be suicides.
His claims are backed up by an international study last year by the accident research centre at Australia’s Monash University. “Six per cent of fatal single vehicle accidents certainly is consistent with the findings of other studies,” says the study’s co-author. Virginia Routley.
Her own international study found that the figure could be even higher: “Between one and I seven per cent of driver fatalities have been noted as possible suicides,” says the study. “It has I been suggested, however, that current statistics may underestimate the incidence of these deaths.”
The Monash study points to I researchers in Britain who -looked into single-vehicle fatal crashes in which the coroner had returned an open verdict. One British study re-examined 330 open verdicts and found that 213 were likely suicides. Another found that 86 per cent of open verdict, cases was probable suicides. “This suggests that most open verdict cases are gradually unidentified suicide cases,” says the Monash report.
Single-vehicle crashes are the most common form of fatal accident in Ireland. In 2002, the latest year for which statistics are available, such accidents accounted for 30 per cent of road fatalities.
Dr Connolly looked at several single-vehicle crashes in Co Mayo from 1978 to 1992. He found there was a suspicion of suicide in six - or 4.5 per cent - of the 134 fatalities. However, he believes that the national incidence could be as high as six per cent.
In Ireland, 102 people died in single-Vehicle accidents in 2002. ‘If we were to speculate, then possibly six or seven of those might well have been suicides,” says Dr Connolly. Closer inspection of the figures reveals that 49 people died in single-car crashes where they were the only occupant.
Paul O’Hare a spokesperson in Ireland for the Samaritans, confirmed that calls have been made to the charity’s helpline from suicidal people outlining their intentions to crash their cars. “We do need to raise awareness that this is a way people are taking their lives,” he says.
Last year, 444 people took their own lives in Ireland. The vast majority were male between the ages of 15 and 44 years. The Samaritans say that, for every one woman who takes her own life, 11 men do so. However, if young men are killing themselves by using their vehicles, the figure could be even higher.
Traditionally, suicidal men choose certain methods. Generally these are violent and more likely to succeed. Car accidents fit into this, male category. The international study found that Almost 90 per cent of suicides through crashes are by young men.
By disguising their deaths as car accidents, O’Hare believes those who have died may be trying to save people close to them extra pain. “In Ireland there is a massive stigma surrounding suicide,” he explains. “There is a belief that suicide is extremely shameful and a car accident always leaves a major doubt.”
The Monash study also found -that it is extremely difficult to identify such suicides, and not just because of the complexities of determining intent and psychological motivation. “Previous research has identified a reluctance to classify cause of death as suicide without concrete evidence, such as a suicide note, and this piece of evidence is rarely found in single-vehicle crashes,” says the report.
“Classification of a death as accidental’ rather than ‘suicide’ saves the family from any stigma, shame guilt and anger of suicide, and allow them the financial security of insurance.”
In addition, Irish statistics on seatbelt wearing are extremely unreliable. In 75 per cent of fatal accidents in 2002, there is no record on seatbelt use. This, explains the National Roads Authority, is because victims may already have been removed from their vehicles before the Garda, who fill out the report forms, arrive at crash scenes.
In an attempt to improve suicide reporting, the World Health Organisation’s latest International Classification of Diseases system flow includes a code for death by “deliberate crashing of a motor vehicle’.
Dr Connolly and his international colleagues are calling for, more research and better recording of fatal, single-vehicle, single-occupant accidents to try to determine the extent of the problem.
Until then, many disguised suicides will continue to be recorded as road accidents.by Eddie Cassidy – 16/9/04
A PLANNED shake-up of the Southern Health Board ambulance service has sparked fears of a trimming of night cover in areas such as Skibbereen.
A revised plan is expected to lead to the provision of two round-the-clock bases in West Cork, possibly in Bantry and Clonakilty.
Skibbereen Town Council is seeking clarification from the health board that a local ambulance service will not be diminished.
Cllr Donal McCarthy said yesterday the council is anxious to meet with local GPs to explore their concerns.
However, in a statement yesterday, the Southern Health Board (SHB) said it had no plans to close or reduce the service from its Skibbereen base.
The board said its service development plan will bring efficiencies to emergency response, while meeting ambulance staff demands for a reduction in the level of ‘on-call’ service.
“I am not sure what is generating concerns and fears about the service development plans for the West Cork area, including Skibbereen,’ a senior health board official said.
The SHB statement said that, in line with national policy and the recommendations of an ambulance service review in 2001, the board was committed to the phased reduction and elimination of the ‘on-call’ service in rural areas, including Skibbereen.
“The National Ambulance Strategy suggests an option for resolving the high level of ‘on-call is to group adjacent stations and with the provision of additional resources, develop complimentary rostering systems that will improve response times and significantly reduce the ‘on-call’ element of the service at night time:’ the SHB said.
The board added: “The SHB is confident a revised plan, which includes an additional crew of two EMTs in eight ambulance bases, including Skibbereen, will be agreed and implemented in early 2005?’
Mr McCarthy said: “If the health board clarifies there will be no downgrading of the service, we will be happy with that?’
WE NEED TWICE AS MANY AMBULANCES
Irish Daily STAR – Thursday 29th July 2004
A MAJOR ambulance service was struggling to cope with a four-fold rise in emergency calls - with the same number of ambulances it had in 1885 - a union official said yesterday.
The Dublin Fire Brigade Emergency Ambulance Service still
had just 11 ambulances although the area’s population had increased by 65,000,
SIPTU representative Tony McDonnell said. 
The brigade provides up to 90 per cent of the emergency ambulance service in Dublin city and county
“We got our Inst additional ambulance in 1985,” Mr McDonnell said.
“As a rough estimate; we need double the amount that we have.’
Delays
The Eastern Regional Health Authority operates its own ambulance service in the area.
But Mr McDonnell said: “The health authority says that it has over 60 ambulances, but from Freedom of Information details that I have received, there are as few as four on duty at any given time and they are based in different locations throughout the city.”
And he said over- crowding hospital accident and emergency departments meant some ambulances could be delayed in hospital car parks because there was no room for the patients they were carrying.
“That means that there are fewer ambulances on the road if an emergency took place,” he said.
Mr McDonnell said SIPTU representatives had written to Health Minister Micheal Martin seven times since last December asking for a meeting to discuss ambulance cover after planned changes to the health board system. But he said the union was still waiting for Mr Martin to agree to meeting.
Kieran Henry: Station team leader with the Southern Health Board ambulance service in Cork
I work a mixture of days and nights, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or from 8p.m. to 8 a.m. When I work the day shift, I alternate between being station team leader and crewing an emergency ambulance. I have been working in the emergency services for 11 years.
When I am working as station team leader I start the day by ensuring the ambulances are stocked and ready for the crews. I let the lads know which hospitals are on call and pass on any other relevant information such as road closures around the city. During the day we have five crews. Three come on duty at 8 am, one at 9 am, and another at 10 a.m.
In the morning I also do administration work such as
rostering with the ambulance U officer, attend meetings with the I
emergency department or go to event management meetings with the other
emergency services to plan for upcoming concerts, matches or events.
I usually stay in the station for the 12 hours of the shift but am also available, with a response vehicle, to attend any incident. This happens if there are no ambulances available to respond to it or if it is a serious accident and the major incident plan is implemented. I also do in-service training and am involved in the training of new recruits. It’s my job to ensure the station is adequately supplied with equipment, drugs and gases. As station team leader I deal with any day-to-day queries and compile reports.
When I am on the front line I work with my partner John. We take it in turns to be the driver or the medic for the day. We respond to a variety of calls including collapses, seizures, assaults, road traffic accidents, maternity callouts, attempted suicides and cardiac arrests. We bring them to the relevant emergency department and hand them over to the medical staff. Then we clean up and replenish our stock and wait for our next call out.
Obviously we come across some pretty horrific situations and sometimes we have to deal with relatives, which can be very hard on everyone. We get a lot of drink-related calls and sometimes we are verbally abused and occasionally physically assaulted. We also come across domestic incidents and a lot of suicides, which can be very tough.
Every situation is different, and the job can be very rewarding. I enjoy it. There is great variety and you have no idea where you are going to end up on any shift. We can go from some of the wealthiest parts of town to some of the most socially deprived areas.
It is very challenging, but it’s nice to be able to make a difference. When people ring an ambulance they are usually in a dire situation. It’s great to later meet someone in the hospital when they are making a recovery.
The job sometimes calls for a lot of decision making. We have a good relationship with the other emergency services.
At the end of a shift I am absolutely exhausted. I have a good relationship with all the lads in work and we have a good social life. I also give resuscitation training to various groups and am involved in Club Cork, which is a two-day training course for clubs and pubs, around the city.
Kieran Henry says that dealing with suicides can be very tough
Concern over lack of ‘Blue Light’ training for emergency drivers
BRIAN BYRNE Irish Times Wednesday 18th August 2004
Scores of emergency vehicles ‘break speed and traffic regulations every day on emergency or “blue light” duties, but in many cases their drivers have not had any advanced training.
There is no mandatory advanced driver training programme for ambulance or fire tender drivers - and, although in theory all Garda patrol car drivers should get special training, in practice a significant number have not completed the course.
The duration of the Garda driver course has been halved in recent years, and among Gardai themselves there is unease about allowing members to drive official vehicles without any, other training than that with which they gained their ordinary driving licences.
In the’ case of the Garda, only drivers who have passed through a course at either Templemore or the Phoenix Park depot are, in theory, allowed to respond to “39” emergency calls - known as “39 call outs”. However, Garda vehicles can respond to these calls without the driver having completed the courses under what is known as “Chief Superindendent’s Permission”.
This was initiated during the 1970s when an increasing need for Garda cover in Border areas required flexible mobility. It later became a broader practice, particularly in the Dublin Metropolitan Area.
“Garda vehicles could be lying idle at stations because qualified drivers attached to those units might be on holidays or not rostered for duty,” a Garda spokesperson told The Irish Times.
Officially these drivers are not supposed to answer emergency calls. “The situation puts drivers in personal danger,” says one former Garda driver. “They can come from their own personal car, maybe a 1-litre Micra, to a high-powered patrol car without any training in how to handle it.”
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) says that untrained drivers operating official vehicles, “extremely hazardous” conditions, are “a real source of concern”.
Fine Gael justice spokesperson Mr John Deasy says: “The Gardai in question face serious threats on the roads, including high-speed chases and apprehending joyriders, as well as coping with ordinary driving hazards.”
However, Mr Martin Reilly, the sergeant in charge of Garda driver training in the Phoenix Park Depot, says that resources d now available mean that some 500 Gardai are trained annually in basic patrol driving, and the level of operating under “chiefs permission” has decreased & markedly.
Most of the larger Garda stations need up to 12 drivers to meet shift requirements of
24-hour rostering. The 1,900 Garda vehicles comprise almost 1,400 cars, over 230 motorcycles and 219 vans. There are also minibuses, lorries and a few
off-road vehicles.
Training on the Garda “car course is given by instructors who have trained to standards established by British police forces, notably those of the London Metropolitan Police Driving School at Hendon.
The last Garda instructor to go to Hendon did so in 1984, and the last instructor to be trained at any of the main British colleges did so in 1987. Since then, the Garda instructors have trained other instructors here. None of those at the Dublin facility have been sent for external training for several years.
In Britain, all police driver instruction is divided into three modules: “Basic” for simple patrol duties; “Standard” for emergency response and night driving; and “Advanced” for pursuit and high speed response. The total instruction time is 10 weeks. Advanced motorcycle training can take a total of 17 weeks.
In Ireland the patrol car course will give just two weeks’ instruction for a driver, half of the time given some years ago.
However, Sgt Reilly says that since participants normally have full driving licences already, the duration is adequate for normal’’ patrol driving duties. “If they are assigned to special units, such as the Traffic Division or Emergency Response Unit, or for driving Government ministers, they get further training.” Garda motorcycle riders are trained on a very stringent curriculum before they qualify for patrol, and around 500 have been trained over the last five years.
The Phoenix Park school also has responsibility for training the bicycle Garda corps now being introduced, based on a US training model. Training a driver means having to replace the Garda taken off normal duties during the process. Applicants the car or motorcycle courses require the permission of superiors, and delays of several years have been reported.
With other “blue light” operators, it is only recently that any organised attempt has been made to provide drivers with special training. And apart from the Garda, such training is not mandatory.
Dublin Fire Brigade has sent drivers to Britain for special training during the last two years, and these are now available as instructors for other brigades.
Local fire services had their driver-mechanics get a HGV licence and then gave them “in-house” tuition in how to drive “under blue lights”.
Most ambulance drivers in Ireland do not receive advanced training, participants at a conference last autumn were told.
However, in the Eastern Region Health Board area drivers are currently undergoing a programme of advanced driving tuition.
“The feedback has been very good,” says Pat McCarner, chief ambulance officer in the Eastern Region area. “Our drivers say they have eliminated bad driving habits, have a heightened awareness of what’s going on around them, and have learned more about strategic driving such as correct cornering positions and overall vehicle control”
Meanwhile, one of those involved in setting up a standardised driving tuition curriculum for the British police forces in the early 1990s believes a similar programme should be devised for other emergency response drivers.
Former police driving instructor Peter Richardson says that it should then be mandatory for such drivers before they are deemed qualified to drive “under blue lights”.
No fewer than 14 different organisations or agencies in d Britain are permitted to use blue
lights. Most can do so without any mandatory training.
He said “misconceptions” about legal responsibilities and exemptions need to be addressed, quoting as example the fact that a voluntary ambulance driver can avail of ‘es the traffic regulation exemptions provided in law “if the circumstances warrant it”. “But that driver may not have received the requisite training, or any training.”
Feasibility Study on a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS)
Press Release
Feasibility Study on a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS)
The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Micheál Martin, TD, and the
Minister with responsibility for Health, Social Services and Public Safety,
(Belfast) Ms Angela Smith, MP today, (30th April, 2004), announced the
publication of a Feasibility Study on a Helicopter Emergency Medical
Service (HEMS) for the island of Ireland.
The decision to commission the study followed a recommendation by a Cross
Border Working Group on Pre-Hospital Emergency Care, one of a number of
Groups established under the North South Ministerial Council to examine
areas of North South co-operation in the Health field.
The consultancy firm, Booz, Allen and Hamilton, conducted the study which
identifies possible roles for a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service
(HEMS):
· "Primary Response" ? travelling directly to the scene of an incident
to take the patient to hospital
· "Inter-hospital Response" ? the planned, rapid transfer between
hospitals of patients requiring specialist care, escorted by skilled
professionals
The study concludes that an inter-hospital transfer service would be the
most appropriate in an all-island context. The study indicates that this
would involve significant capital investment and annual operating costs.
The estimated cost is €12m capital and €4m annual operating costs for a
single helicopter. Additional helicopters could be added with an
additional annual cost for each aircraft of over €3m.
A 3 year programme of work would be needed to establish HEMS including
procurement of aircraft; identifying and constructing landing sites;
developing cross-border communications and control systems; producing
service protocols and cross-border management agreements (including funding
and payment); staff recruitment and training; arrangements for integration
with existing hospital and ambulance services.
Commenting on the report, Minister Martin said
"I welcome this detailed examination of the feasibility of introducing a
Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS). It is an important
contribution to the debate on the future organisation of emergency medical
services in both the hospital and pre-hospital settings.
The re-configuration of acute hospital services along the lines proposed by
the National Task Force on Medical Staffing (The Hanly Report) underlines
the importance of having a well organized ambulance service capable of
responding rapidly to the needs of emergency patients. While the study
shows that a HEMS would have a part to play in providing improved response
times, it is not a substitute for the emergency ambulance service."
The Minister continued:
"The development of the emergency ambulance services is being pursued
through the continued implementation of the Strategic Review of the
Ambulance Service, 2001. This recommended additional investment of €26m up
to 2006 in the ambulance service and I will continue to pursue this as a
priority".
The Minister said that his Department is exploring the options in relation
to HEMS development in the light of the study. As part of its
consideration, consultations are taking place with the Department of
Defence and the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources
(Irish Coast Guard).
Copies of the HEMS Feasibility Study are available on the Department's
website at
www.doh.ie.
Minister Smith's comments are available on the website of the Department of
Health, Social Services and Public Safety (Belfast) at
www.dhsspsni.gov.UK/foi/foi main.html
Air-ambulance service would be set-up €11.5m
Providing a dedicated air-ambulance Service on the island of Ireland to transfer patients between hospitals using just one helicopter would cost at least €11.5 million in initial set-up costs and a further €4.1 million a year in operating costs, according to consultants.
Each additional helicopter added could cost up to €4 million in capital and annual running costs and it would take at least three years for the service to be set up.
The consultants’ feasibility study, which was commissioned by the Departments of Health in Northern Ireland and the Republic following a recommendation from a cross-Border working group on pre-hospital emergency care, was published yesterday.
Having reviewed existing Helicopter Emergency Medical Services overseas and literature on their effectiveness, the consultancy firm Booz, Allen and Hamilton, concluded there was a role for a dedicated helicopter service in an all-Ireland context for rapid inter-hospital transfer of critically ill or severely injured patients.
Potential locations for the service would be Dublin, Belfast and Cork, the report said.
The case for having an air ambulance service to pick up patients from their homes or the site of accidents was “significantly less obvious, particularly in terms of cost-effectiveness and in terms of the potential that may exist to divert funds from existing plans and initiatives associated with development of ground ambulance services and other elements of critical care transport”, the report said.
The downside to a helicopter service, it added, was the fact that it was costly, could be called out unnecessarily, and whether it could travel would be dictated by weather conditions.
The report warned that an air ambulance service was not a substitute for a good ambulance service.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said his officials would now be “exploring the options in relation to helicopter service development in the light of the study”.
The Mayo GP and Independent TD, Dr Jerry Cowley, who has been campaigning for the use of helicopters for over a decade, criticised Mr Martin for giving no commitment whatsoever on the matter.
With local services being threatened by Hanly, a helicopter service is an “absolute necessity”, he said.
The feasibility study was completed before the Hanly report on hospital reorganisation and the centralisation of full A&E services at major hospitals was published.
However, the report’s authors include a note on Hanly in which they say that his recommendations of this report and their implementation have major implications for the ambulance service in the Republic of Ireland and account of this must be taken when considering the possibility of introducing dedicated helicopter emergency service.
March 2004 New of the World
IRELAND’S national ambulance service must not be privatised, the general secretary of SITPI. Joe O’Flynn, warned yesterday.
Mr Flynn fears government plans to Sell off the 999 service. He said: “The bottom line is what the bottom line always is about - private profit for the golden circle of those, with vested interests.
“The crock of gold for private contractors would be extracted from the wage packets of the workers…..either by reducing staff numbers, expecting ambulance crews to do more or by reducing pay.”
Mr O’Flynn said contracting out the service would make little gain. Saving on administration and overheads would yield little. He added: “Any private contractor world have to tender to provide services at no more than the existing cost, or else, the whole exercise would he pointless.”
Debut for Health worker pipe band
IRELAND’S first ambulance service pipe band made its official debut recently. The band members, which include 20 emergency medical technicians (E.M.T.’s) from the Southern Health Board’s (SHB) ambulance service, came together to make their first appearance in full uniform (orange kilt and white shirt) at the SHB ambulance base in Cork.
The band, which consists of 11 drummers and nine pipers, has been attending practice sessions several nights a week for the past three months. Kieran Henry, EMT and band PRO, says: Putting together a pipe band is something we had been thinking about for a while. One of the E.M.T.’s, Patrick McCarthy, is a pipe major and several of the crew had an interest in music and playing an instrument so we had a lot of interest from day one. After the past few months of fundraising, getting sponsorship, organising the drums, bagpipes and uniforms, this is the first time we have performed together in full uniform so it is a real milestone for us.”
The band has received great support from ambulance crews all over Cork and Kerry and indeed from other health boards that have heard about the SHB venture.
Patrick McCarthy of the Youghal crew adds: “I have been playing the bagpipes for years and am delighted to get the chance to form the band with the lads. The level of enthusiasm for the project has been amazing. It has been real commitment because we practice several nights a week. All the ambulance crews have been supporting from day one and even come along to the practise sessions. The band is now really taking shape and we’re looking forward to our first outing as a fully fledged pipe band.”
The band will officially make its first performance at a major event in the ambulance service calendar — the Association of Ambulance Personnel Annual Conference, which is being hosted in Cork for the first time on 5 and 6 March.
Other outings that have been confirmed so far include the St Patrick’s Day parade in Youghal and a parade in Kinsale on 21 March.
Full paramedic training could save 600 lives
ALMOST 600 lives could be saved every year in Ireland if ambulance crews are given full paramedic training and allowed perform lifesaving procedures including the administration of drugs.
The claim was made at a conference of Irish ambulance-driver personnel in Cork yesterday.
Health Minister Michael Martin was asked to tackle the funding and training crisis for Ireland’s ambulance service, which has left it up to 15 years behind its British counterparts in terms of development.
“The facts speak for themselves. Our members save lives, but we are convinced we can save even more Personnel (AAP) Chairman, Pat Hannafin said.
The AAP said that academic studies have underlined the crucial role played by paramedics. One Sheffield University report indicated that up to 600 lives each year could be saved in Ireland through the full use of ambulance crews as paramedics.
Ireland currently has 850 ambulance workers or emergency medical technicians nationwide.
None is trained to perform lifesaving procedures such as trachial tube insertions, intravenous treatments or drug administration. These can only be undertaken by doctors.
In many cases this results in lengthy delays in treatment, as patients are raced from the scene of an accident to the hospital A&E department.
BY CORMAC BOURKE
AS MANY as 5,000 people may have died over the past seven years because ambulance staff are not legally allowed to intervene to save their lives, despite the recommendations of a review group report, the Association of Ambulance Personnel (PAP) has warned.
The group is looking for changes to the legislation which prevents them from administering certain types of drugs or performing invasive procedures — even though they are already trained to do so.
Among the drugs, which cannot be given by Emergency Medical Technicians (E.M.T.’s) to ill patients being transported to hospital, are aspirin and ventolin (often used by asthmatics)
E.M.T.’s ARE also banned from dispensing life-saving medication to diabetics who have fallen into a coma and from giving life-saving adrenaline to people who have had a severe allergic reaction to bee stings or to foodstuffs like nuts or seafood.
The l993 report of a review group on Ireland’s ambulance services recommended that each emergency ambulance should be staffed by two trained ambulance personnel, with at least one having successfully completed the advanced training programme”.
It recommended that two out of every three ambulance crews be trained to ‘an advanced level” by December 1999. Last year, a Department of Health recommended that “teg necessary legislation should be enacted to enable EMT’s to administer cardiac-care drugs’.
None of the recommendations has as yet been implemented “It’s frustrating from our point of view,’ says AAP spokesman and Southern Health Board EMT Sean Griffin. ‘Not only can we save lives, but it has been shown that people who receive paramedic attention take less time to recuperate and enjoy a better standard of life afterwards.”
“We can’t save as many lives as we should be able to,” Sean Griffin says.
An estimated 300,000 Irish people a year are transported to hospital in ambulances. There are over 210 ambulances in Ireland, staffed by between 900 and 1000 EMT’s in total.
Unlike the US ambulance services, on which scenes for programmes like ER are based, there are no fully-trained paramedics in this country however Instead, most of those who staff ambulances are at the level of EMT, a diploma qualification obtained after a two-year course at the National Ambulance Training School.
While EMT’s in other countries receive less training than those in Ireland, Sean Griffin says that another year would be required to get trainees up to full paramedic level. Fully-trained paramedics have been staffing ambulances in the North since 1989, however.
It’s very difficult to assess the immediate benefit from the introduction of paramedic skills,” says Brian McNeill, head of training for the Northern Ireland ambulance service.
The main benefit, he says, is having better trained stuff who are better able to handle the situations in which they find themselves, helter able to assess patients.
“They know when to stay and try to intervene to stabilise a patient anti when it makes good sense to move a patient to an A&E department,” he says.
“In comparison to many first world countries, we’re way behind, maybe a decade behind,” says Stephen Cusask, an accident and emergency consultant at Cork University Hospital.
“Paramedics are probably mote valuable in rural remote settings than in the centre of Dublin where you can walk to the nearest hospital.”
HEALTH MINISTER Micheal Martin recently set up the Pre-hospital Emergency Care Council - a body which will look at the area of ambulance services, among others.
Advanced skills training is an important issue in terms of the pro vision of emergency care, says council member Dr Gerard Bury who is also the head of the Medical Council which regulates the medical profession.
“By advanced skills training, we mean going over and above the core life-saving skills. What this means generally is the use of drugs in certain cardiac emergencies and advanced skills for controlling patients’ airways.
“Those skills have been shown to be of value in saving lives.
OLIVIA KELLY - Irish Times February 2004
Ambulance drivers in Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare are to stage a one-day protest on March 5th claiming the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has failed to protect them from penalty points and endorsements on their driving licences.
The staff of the Eastern Regional Ambulance Service, said they are subject to all driving offences, including speeding, I even when they are responding to an emergency call.
In addition to mounting insurance costs, they now face the prospect of losing their licences and being unable to work if they accrue 12 penalty points.
“The Minister for Transport as failed to address an anomaly in the Road Traffic Acts, which means any emergency personnel can pick up endorsements for breaches of traffic regulations in the course of responding to life and death situations,” said Mr Paul Bell, the secretary of SIPTU’s Dublin Health Services branch.
Government standards dictate that ambulance drivers respond to emergency calls within eight minutes. This was impossible to achieve with the road traffic laws, he said. Luas works and numerous local authority projects in Dublin and the rest of the State were adding to the problems of ambulance driving in towns and cities.
While no driver in the eastern regional area had received penalty points, ambulance chiefs had been notified by the Garda that it intended to apply the sanction, Mr Bell said. The solution would be the creation of separate emergency service driving licences, which drivers could use during their working day, thus protecting their personal licences from endorsement. “This present situation threatens to put these workers off the road and leave the public without vital emergency services.
The form of protest has not yet been decided, Mr Bell said, but it would not disrupt the service.
The Department of Transport said ambulance drivers are currently exempt from “a wide range” of traffic offences, including speeding. A spokesman said the Department had been approached by the emergency services seeking an exemption from the dangerous driving laws, I for the first time in 40 years, and talks were ongoing.
The Garda Press Office said it was not aware of the ambulance service being warned that drivers would be liable for penalty points.
CHATHRINE HALLORAN
AMBULANCE drivers are planning a day of action over fears their personal driving will be jeopardised if they break traffic laws rushing to the scene of an emergency.
An anomaly in the Read Traffic At means that emergency personnel —including Gardai and fire-fighters - can incur penalty points and endorsements while speeding to life-and-death emergencies.
SIPTU Branch Secretary Paul Bell said government standards demanded ambulance drivers respond to emergencies within eight minutes of a call being placed with ambulance control regardless of traffic.
“But just imagine the obstacles they have to work around on our streets - Luas works, telecommunications works and numerous local authority projects – all slowing down, and in some cases halting, traffic altogether”
“Apart from the Luas, the situation is no different throughout the country, with various infra-structural projects ongoing in all our major towns and cities.”
Mr Bell said SIPTU was calling on the Transport Minister, Seamus Brennan to introduce a special licensing system to protect emergency workers.
“We are not looking for special privileges, but we are saying that if the standard requirement means emergency to breach traffic regulations, then a special licensing system is needed”
Miracle Boy Born After CrashBY ANN O’LOUCHLIN Evening Herald Wednesday 4th February
THIS is miracle baby Daniel Gallagher who survived an horrific ambulance crash.
Little Daniel was today safe in his mum’s arms after the ambulance rushing her to hospital was in a nightmare collision.
“I still can’t believe he’s okay. I look in his face and he is so peaceful. I am so blessed,” new mum Martina told the Evening Herald today.
Laying in the back of the emergency vehicle with labour pains she was convinced the ambulance was going to topple over into the Liffey.
“I keep getting flashbacks. We were so lucky we did not end up in the River Liffey. Daniel is a lucky boy and I am the luckiest mum in the world,” she laughed as she held her baby close in the Rotunda Hospital.
The infant was born just an hour after the ambulance rushing Martina to hospital was involved in the smash, hitting traffic lights.
Martina (21) still suffers terrifying flashbacks after the smash on Dublin’s Ormond Quay, Dublin, close to the Four Courts.
“I haven’t been able to sleep since. When I hear ambulance sirens, it brings back the terrifying moment when I was getting contractions every five minutes. I was in a lot ambulance of pain and the crashed,” she said.
“The ambulance was going fairly fast, the sirens blaring and the light flashing. I’m not sure what we hit,” Martina from Clondalkin added.
Martina’s most frightening moment was when she was afraid that the ambulance would topple over.
“I was just afraid fur my baby and I didn’t know if anybody in the ambulance was hurt. I was in so much pain and I was just so worried for the baby.”
Martina, who was discharged from the Rotunda Hospital earlier today, couldn’t wait to bring Daniel home to his sister Kelly Ann.
“It could all have been so different. Every time I look at his little face I feel like crying with happiness that it has all turned out so well,” she said. -
“Let’s hope life will not be so eventful from now on.”
But Martina has not emerged totally unscathed from the accident. This week she will have to have x-rays as she is suffering back pain following the impact.
“I hope its nothing serious but at the moment I am just feeling relief that my baby is okay and he’s a happy little boy,” she said.
Traffic was disrupted on the quays yesterday morning when Martina’s ambulance and a car they were trying to avoid smashed into traffic lights and then into a building.
Wheel Defect In Castlebar Ambulance
Raises Suspicion
Liam MacNally – Irish Times
A “forensic” examination is being carried out on a Western Health Board ambulance after it was discovered that three nuts were missing from a rear wheel.
The ambulance was on the way to Dublin on Thursday to pick up a patient when “the driver felt the vehicle shudder”, according to the chief ambulance officer Mr Ray Bonar. The crew, from the Castlebar ambulance base, noticed that the ambulance was making a strange sound and the driver thought it might have been the gearbox.
The vehicle was diverted to the ambulance garage at St James’s Hospital in Dublin while another ambulance crew on contract to the health board in Dublin was detailed to pick up the patient.
Mr Bonar said he has no doubt the ambulance driver checked his vehicle before the trip, in line with standard procedure, and that everything was in order before the journey began. The ambulance was due to be “examined forensically” in Dublin yesterday.
“There is a degree of suspicion,” said Mr Bonar, “because it is not the normal course of events. Three nuts would not disappear at the same time from one wheel. It has never happened before’.
A new ambulance delivered to the base last month had to be returned to the manufacturer because of defects. There have been three breakdowns in the fleet over the past four weeks, including one emergency case where a patient had to wait in a broken down ambulance for over 35 minutes while a replacement vehicle was sent to the scene.