Ambulance cuts 'will cost lives'
THE proposed removal of the full-time ambulance service in Youghal will put even more stain on the already stretched service in Fermoy.
That was the view of Fermoy town councillor Olive Corcoran, who said that she believed that local patients "will die" if the Youghal service is axed.
At the July meeting of the town council, Cllr Corcoran (FF) said she received a call from a member of the Youghal Ambulance Support Group seeking her support for the campaign to retain their service.
"She pointed out that were their service to go, they would be reliant on the Midleton ambulance for cover. However, since the Midleton ambulance is now predominantly used in Cork city, the Fermoy ambulance would be used to cover the Youghal area," said Cllr Corcoran.
She said that she had spoken to health workers and GPs in Fermoy who told her that as things stand the ambulance cover for the Fermoy area is already inadequate.
"If it had to serve the Youghal area as well my fear is that it would have a serious affect on emergency response times. The area of coverage would be too large and it is my belief that local patients will die as a result," said Cllr Corcoran.
"There is a public meeting taking place in Youghal next Wednesday to protest at the axing of their service. I believe that this council should be represented at that meeting as it is clearly in our best interests that the service be retained there," she added.
Her party colleague, Cllr Colette Dolan Moore, pointed out that the issue of emergency response times for the local ambulance service is one that has arisen regularly in the past.
"They are already snowed under. As this stands we could do with a second ambulance in Fermoy, never mind making the existing one serve a wider area," she said.
"It is clear that the axing of the Youghal service would leave us in dire straits," she added.
Labour's Tadgh O'Donovan said the situation in Youghal was only one element of plans cuts to the ambulance service across the entire county.
"Already we have seen dramatic cuts to services in places such as Millstreet and Kanturk. I believe that we, and other town councils, should write to the HSE urging them to reinstate the entire county ambulance service," said Cllr O'Donovan.
"The bottom line here is that whether it be in Fermoy or Youghal, people will die because of these cuts," he added.
- BILL BROWNE bbrowne@corkman.ie
