Members of Monaghan County Council met yesterday with David Clarke who is Head of Service Operations for the National Ambulance Service. The visit was on foot of a request made by Cllr Paudge Connolly in relation to ambulance waiting times across the local area. According to Cllr Connolly, the meeting was aimed at discussing the "shortcomings" of the ambulance service in recent times, something which he says is in "no reference" to frontline staff.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Cllr Connolly described waiting times of over two hours which some locals have been forced to face in recent times as "totally unacceptable. He added that in his view, Monaghan as a whole is at a "geographical disadvantage" compared to other counties, however the lives and wellbeing of locals should not be "put at risk" because of that.
"I hope maybe to some extent that during yesterday's meeting, the issues raised might encourage the National Ambulance Service and the powers that be to investigate and to do something about it, that would perhaps leave us with a better ambulance service," Cllr Connolly explained. "Sometimes it's not all about resources, it's about the abuse of the service. That abuse accounts for upwards of 40% of ambulance runs which is a frightening figure. An ambulance is for a life-threatening situation, it's for an emergency, it's not to be used as a private taxi to a hospital for someone."
