15% of ambulances reach turnaround target in Portiuncula

Just 15% of ambulances attending at Portiuncula Hospital’s emergency department during the month of May met the target turnaround time of 20 minutes.
The figures were revealed last week on foot of a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Billy Kelleher, who requested ambulance turnaround times for every emergency department in the country.
The most up to date figures were for the month of May and revealed that 15.2% of ambulances were cleared at the hospital in less than 20 minutes, meaning that in 64 calls the ambulance crew had handed over their patient, got their trolley back and returned to responding to calls within the target timeframe. Some 48.8% or 206 calls were turned around in less than 30 minutes, while 92.2%, or 389 calls, were cleared in 60 minutes or less. Just 7.8%, or 33 calls, took between one and two hours to clear at the hospital.
The average turnaround time at Portiuncula was 34 minutes and 39 seconds, making it one of the longest turnaround times in the country. Mayo General Hospital had the longest average turnaround time in the country, taking 44 minutes 47 seconds. This was followed by University Hospital Galway at 42 minutes 45 seconds, Cork University Hospital at 40 minutes 48 seconds and South Tipperary General at 36 minutes 14 seconds.
Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown had the best average turnaround time during the month of May, taking on average 21 minutes 38 seconds to clear the call.
Local TDs Eugene Murphy (FF) and Michael Fitzmaurice (Ind) have criticised the turnaround times in the west.
Deputy Murphy said: “Of 20,032 ambulance hospital attendances in May, just 5,820 or 29.1% had a turnaround within the 20 minute timeframe. 1,126 ambulance calls took more than an hour with Mayo worst at 17.7% followed by Galway at 15.4%. It is quite alarming that an ambulance going to either of these two hospitals is almost twice as likely to have to wait an hour or more than to reach the turnaround target. In University Hospital Galway there was only a 7.9% success rate for the 20 minute timeframe while 84.5% (755 calls) took up to one hour to clear.”
“Of course missing turnaround targets has a knock on effect for the ambulance service as it makes it harder to respond to new call outs in the target time if paramedics are delayed at hospitals.
“Unsurprisingly, many of the hospitals with low turnaround rates also experience overcrowding in their emergency departments. The delays in transferring patients are clearly not the fault of the ambulance service. Rather there are symptomatic of the ongoing difficulties in our acute hospitals,” concluded Deputy Murphy.
Deputy Fitzmaurice said: “It is an extremely serious and worrying matter that ambulances going to hospitals in Galway or Mayo are almost twice as likely to have to wait an hour or more, and remember the turnaround target is 20 minutes. The ambulance staff who are working in this region are doing a fantastic job but they are under staffed and under resourced.  
“The main problem here lies at the hospitals where staff at the A and E units are under so much pressure that the turnaround times are not what they should be. This problems must be sorted out as soon as possible as lives are on the line. We have the Taoiseach and four Ministers in this region yet the service to the people is getting worse. It’s time they all stood up to the plate and sorted this matter out immediately,” he concluded.