Carlow ambulance staff are having a meeting with the Taoiseach later.
The local paramedics will be raising issues with Micheál Martin over the unsuitable facilities at their base at St Dympna’s.
Local TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor says they’ll also be discussing improvement to the system to try and make sure local people aren’t left waiting when they need the service, telling KCLR “The last maybe year or two we’ve had absolutely horrific delays for people that have been waiting on ambulances and it’s become a really big issue for me and I want to first of all compliment ambulance paramedics for the great work that they’re doing and I’ve worked with them now for the last few years but there’s huge issues, there was a new system put in place there and was it is is it’s based on priority not location and I know priority is so important but also location”.
Deputy Murnane O’Connor also says “The ambulance base is not fit for purpose in Carlow where the ambulance paramedics work from and it’s unsuitable; very small, there’s two showers in it but it’s in a bit of a prefab, we’re actually in a prefab, now we’re in 2022 and it’s just attached to one of the end buildings of St Dympna’s but like they’re in a prefab and it’s unacceptable”.
And she adds “Now I have been told from the HSE that there was a list of ten ambulances bases that are being done and Cork is the first one and Carlow is meant to be the second one, that’s what I’m told that there’s ten bases being built but the problem is I need to get that totally confirmed, I need to get a timescale on it”.
