Athlone air ambulance service gets its wings

What was billed as Ireland's "first emergency aeromedical service" was launched by the Minister for Health and the Minister for Defence in Athlone's Custume Barracks on Monday. This air ambulance service is a twelve-month 'pilot project' (no pun intended) which will be based in Athlone and will operate from Monday, June 4. The Air Corps is providing an EC135 helicopter and personnel to fly and maintain the aircraft, which will provide support and assistance to the HSE's National Ambulance Service. The air ambulance will operate during daylight hours. It is a national service, though Minister James Reilly said it would focus in particular on the west of the country, where hospital journey times tend to be longer. The area covered by the service will be somewhat limited by fuel restrictions, which means the aircraft will have a maximum flight time of roughly 50 minutes in any one direction. "We don't extend all the way up to the top of Donegal, and we don't extend all the way down to the bottom of Cork, but we have an ability to cooperate with the Coastguard in rare circumstances where that might be necessary," said Minister Reilly. "This is the first time we've had an emergency aeromedical service for the country and it's my intention that it will expand beyond its current limitation." There would be "real health benefits," as a result of this new initiative, Minister Reilly said. "It's focused on the western seaboard, where we have the longest travel times, (and it will) address the issue where ambulance crews are gone from the area for quite long periods of time, to Galway or Dublin. This will, obviously, for seriously ill cases, make a huge difference." The service will cost approximately €1 million to operate for the 12-month period. Describing how the service would work, the Minister said paramedics at the scene of a health emergency would assess the patient and determine whether or not the air ambulance was needed. If there's a requirement for the helicopter then in most cases they'll be able to drive to a rendezvous point to link up with the air ambulance, he explained. When asked about the longer-term plans for the service, the Minister said: "The long-term plan would be to extend the service, but obviously that's predicated on what we learn from this 'pilot' (project)." Defence Minister Alan Shatter praised the "joined-up thinking" among various Government agencies which had led to the establishment of the service. The director of the National Ambulance Service, Robert Morton, said taking patients to hospital by road would still be "the preferred transport choice," but the air ambulance could be used if a person was not be able to get to a specific location sufficiently quickly by road. He also said that, in rare circumstances, the air ambulance could possibly be sent out in response to a large, multi-casualty incident. 'Safe landing zones' for the air ambulance have been identified and mapped out roughly every ten miles, Mr Morton added. Athlone TD Nicky McFadden welcomed the launch of the service. "The air ambulance will be used where a patient is in such a severe condition that they are not able to get to an appropriate hospital within a certain period of time," said Deputy McFadden. "In that case the patient will be transported by ambulance to the nearest retrieval point for transfer to the helicopter for the journey to hospital. This is a wonderful service to have and I commend all of those involved on bringing this service to fruition." However, ex-Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten said the establishment of the service was tantamount to an admission by the Government that there had been a heightened risk to the public as a result of last year's closure of the A&E Department at Roscommon Hospital. "The establishment of such a service, at a time when cutbacks are taking place throughout the health service, is the most obvious admission to date that the closure of Roscommon A&E department has left the people of county Roscommon in a far more vulnerable position," said Deputy Naughten. "While it is important to remember that the establishment of this service in Athlone is a positive development, it is not a replacement for other ambulance services, the closure of Roscommon A&E, or the downgrading of services at other hospitals."