A local councillor says current waiting times for ambulances in the Northern Sound region are putting lives at risk.
The issue came before the most recent meeting of Cavan County Council this week. Councillor Damien Brady, who is also a firefighter in the county, was called to an incident where a young boy was run over in a farmyard in the Templeport area. An ambulance was called but did not arrive for 72 minutes. A similar incident occurred last week, where a woman who was crushed in a mixer at work was also left waiting over an hour and 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Councillor Damien Brady brought a motion forward at the most recent meeting of the council asking them to write to the Minister for Health to raise the issue.
Speaking to Northern Sound, the Cavan Councillor says it's not the fault of the ambulance crews, but people's lives are being gambled with.
"You're gambling with people's lives in my opinion because I know some of those patients made a full recovery and everything else but if we keep the norm this, people will lose their lives over a bad response time be it from an ambulance or anything else. We want to see a huge improvement and if there's no cover at the hospital and the ambulances are all gone, surely to god there should be an ambulance brought in. Yes they might have to sit there, but it's covering its county and it's better looking at it than looking for it".
