Scairbh

Na

gCaorach

EMYVALE

Enhanced Ambulance

When we were losing our services in Monaghan General Hospital we were promised many things to replace the services. We were promised an advanced paramedic. We got him/her for a short while but then we were asked to share him/her with Louth. Since then we have seen that the advanced paramedic attends very few call-outs in this area. One emergency had to park along the roadside awaiting the arrival of the Advanced Paramedic before proceeding to Cavan General Hospital. This Advanced Paramedic was a First Responder but even at the beginning the Fire Brigade arrived first for a Heart Attack call-out !!

We were promised Primary care and Community Care but they were never delivered.

We were promised ENHANCED AMBULANCES to take us to cavan or Drogheda and these were state of the art and contained all the high tech equipment to keep me alive till I got there and could inform the doctor in the hospital of my condition before I arrived. Did we get one of those? I’m not so sure but the ambulance which arrived to an emergency in North Monaghan recently was far from -’enhanced’ or ‘high tech’. It was an ordinary Mini-bus, which is used for patient transport and the driver is not an advanced paramedic. I think it is a Leonards Minibus - which can be seen driving from Monaghan to Cavan etc. But this patient was very ill and could have gone into all sorts of problems on the long journey with no one to deal with that emergency. That is what we have been reduced to and that is how precious this Government thinks your life is and your dignity.

Let me know if you have to call an ambulance - we want to keep records. Thanks