AMBULANCE services covering Omagh and the wider district and Castlederg are stretched to capacity, and as a result, the service has suffered warned Mid-Tyrone Councillor, Declan McAleer this week.
He said that ambulances meant to provide cover in Omagh were regularly sent to Ballygawley, Fintona, and occasionally even Cookstown, leaving Omagh with little more than a skeleton crew at any given time.
In addition to ambulance being stretched too thin in terms of providing emergency cover there is the further complication that ambulances are ferrying patients to Enniskillen and Craigavon depleting the emergency cover further.
It is understood that a memo from Northern Ireland Ambulance Service headquarters in Belfast advised that there should be one ambulance in Omagh one in Fintona and one in Castlederg for the evenings. The position is such that cardiac crews are faced with the prospect of taking taxis to cardiac emergencies because of the sporadic nature of the cover.
When Omagh hospital was stripped of some services two years ago, the Sperrin Lakeland Trust put in place additional ambulance resources to make up for the service shortfall, however, with the closure of the Mid-Ulster and downgrading of other hospitals Omagh's cover has been stretched to provide for deficiency in other areas.
Cllr McAleer and his Mid-Tyrone Colleague, Cllr Anne Marie McAnespie, have written to the Western Health and Social Care Trust demanding that better coverage be provided and both councillors intend to raise the matter in the council chamber in the coming weeks.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it is committed to delivering the highest quality pre-hospital care to all patients who avail of our service.
"Sizeable recent investments in a modern command and control system, ambulance estate and in the emergency ambulance fleet, enable NIAS to strategically deploy vehicles to ensure that effective patient care is delivered as quickly as possible, thereby enhancing the potential outcome for patients. Current NIAS protocols require that the nearest available ambulance is despatched in response to an emergency call.
"The number of emergency calls received by NIAS, in 2006-07, increased by more than 10% to over 103,000 responses. Response to life-threatening emergency calls improved by 4% in the same period, with almost 1000 extra patients receiving an ambulance response within 8 minutes.
"Levels of ambulance cover are determined by historical patterns of activity and funds made available by the relevant Health and Social Services Board. Additional ambulance resources have been secured for the Omagh, and Mid-Ulster areas in light of the changes to acute services introduced by Health Trusts. NIAS continues to work with the relevant partners to ensure adequate levels of cover are in place and will seek to further improve the delivery of our vital service."
