Leixlip Based Ambulance Service Has Never Received A 999 Call For Services Within Kildare

Tuesday, 16 August 2022 15:42

By Caoimhe Harney

An unpublished HSE presentation in circulation on Monday warned that recruitment “is being surpassed by demand for the organisation’s services."

A privately owned ambulance service which is based in Leixlip has said the government is not using its resources properly.

Despite Lifeline ambulance services being approved by the HSE, it has never made a call out within the county.

Speaking on Kildare Today CEO David Hall said they have never received an emergency call in Kildare for their services.

"We're based in Kildare, we've never ever been called to do a 999 call, ever in over 20 years in business in Kildare.

"How many people have suffered, how many people have been left in pain, and how many people have died as a direct result of that?

"We're the number one private ambulance company on the HSE contract and yet no one picks the phone up in [Kildare]," he said.

On Monday, it was reported that urgent and emergency services are threatened by a staffing crisis in the ambulance service, endangering targets for responding to the most serious calls over the next four years.

An unpublished HSE presentation which was in circulation on Monday warned that recruitment “is being surpassed by demand for the organisation’s services”, which “poses a serious risk to the ability of the [National Ambulance Service] to deliver urgent and emergency care services”.

The presentation contains details of the HSE human resources workforce plan for the National Ambulance Service (NAS), and says there is a “critical and immediate need to increase workforce capacity."

The report warned that based on current modelling, compliance with a target to respond within 19 minutes to life-threatening cases other than cardiac or respiratory arrest would be “considerably less than 40%” by 2027.

Listen Back to the full interview with the CEO of Lifeline Ambulance Services, David Hall: