Disheartened ambulance staff speak out over inadequate provision
Thursday, 16 October 2008
by Karen McPhilemy
OUT of six ambulances stationed at Omagh, two are currently broken down and one has been redeployed for training purposes, according to disheartened crew members, who claim they have been forced to 'stand-down' from shifts as a result.
Describing the situation as an 'ongoing problem that has got really bad', a local ambulance service staff member told how several workers have, on occasions, been forced to stand down from shifts, as there have been no ambulances available for them to respond to emergency call-outs, because they are being deployed elsewhere.
Giving an example of such incidents, the staff member, who did not wish to be named, said that on Wednesday night of last week, two of the three functioning vehicles had been deployed on calls at 7.50pm, leaving only one available ambulance for the three crews coming on for night shift at 8pm.
This remaining vehicle was then deployed to take a patient to Altnagelvin Area Hospital, in Londonderry, leaving the other crews at the Omagh station unable to respond in the event of an emergency.
Commenting on the matter this week, the staff member, said: "At present, we have six vehicles and most of them are old. Out of this six, only three of them are running, as two have broken down and a new vehicle was taken away two weeks ago for a driving test course in Derry. "If there's four crews on duty, two of them will more than likely have to stand down because there's not enough vehicles for them to respond in. In previous occasions, crews have been left standing around for hours waiting for vehicles to come back.
“The Minister is talking about plans to acquire up to 60 new A &E ambulances over the next three years as part of an investment in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. But when broken down, this only means 20 a year and that has to be split into four Board areas from Enniskillen right down to Limavady. Omagh will be lucky if it even gets one.
“We are being deployed to other areas all the time because there's not enough cover. Last week an ambulance was sent to cover Dungannon because it was short, and we are also being sent out to Strabane a lot.
“This has been an ongoing situation, which has got really bad. There's no ambulances, people are having to stand down from shifts and nobody's doing anything about it."
Responding to the claim, a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said that the incident on Wednesday night had not affected performance.
“The vehicle, which had been off the road for repair, was returned to the station at 8.20pm and within an hour full night cover was available at the station."
