Vol. 542 No. 5
321 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding people in the Baltinglass area, County Wicklow, who urgently request an ambulance to Tallaght Hospital; the reason they need to have clearance from the casualty officer in the hospital before the ambulance will agree to carry them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25175/01]
Responsibility for the co-ordination of emergency ambulance and patient transport service provision in the eastern region, which includes County Wicklow, rests with the Eastern Regional Health Authority – ERHA.
I have been advised by the ERHA that patients are normally taken by ambulance to the general hospital in their catchment area. The general hospital for the catchment area of Baltinglass is Naas Hospital. I am further advised that in the event that a GP requires a patient to be brought to a hospital other than his or her catchment area hospital, arrangements will be made by that GP with the relevant consultant or consultant team at the hospital outside the catchment area. In the event that the patient was previously a patient at a hospital outside their catchment area, contact would be made with the relevant team on call and arrangements would be made for the transfer to that hospital.
Question No. 322 answered with Question No. 312.
