Responding to correspondence received from Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, Health Minister Leo Varadkar has defended the closure of Roscommon A&E and argued that the ambulance service in this county has improved since Fine Gael and Labour took office.
Minister Varadkar wrote: “There have been significant improvements in ambulance services in the Roscommon area since 2011.
“Currently, three ambulances provide emergency cover during the day in Roscommon town and two at night. In addition, a rapid response vehicle, crewed by an advanced paramedic, provides cover on a 24/7 basis.
“I want to assure you that I intend to drive further improvements to the ambulance service. “In the next few months, the NAS (National Ambulance Service) will receive the report of an independent capacity review, which, I hope, will provide guidance on the optimum deployment of resources, including deployment in specific geographic locations.”
The minister said that he stood by the Government’s decision to close the A&E. “The changes made to the provision of emergency services at Roscommon Hospital were necessitated by the serious patient safety concerns of the HSE and the Health Information and Quality Authority,” he wrote.
The minister added that that the model of ambulance service had changed recently.
He said: “The service is moving away from the model of care where ambulance services are provided in a local area from a fixed ambulance base located in that area, and moving to a model of strategic deployment.
“In that context, the general area of Roscommon can be supported from the north by service from Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon, to the east by crews in Longford and Mullingar and to the south from Athlone.
“Services are now coming on stream at Tuam and Mulranny stations which will enhance coverage across the region of north Galway, west Roscommon and east Mayo.” The health minister also said that the air ambulance service was also providing support to the people of the western region.
He said that it provided “swift transfers of seriously ill or injured patients to appropriate hospitals” and added that, since it was introduced in 2012, Roscommon and Mayo are the two counties which have benefitted most from it.
