City's ambulance cover questioned

The crew was sent to an address in Shantallow following reports of an unresponsive patient.

It took 21 minutes from when the emergency call was made to the arrival of the A&E crew at the scene: paramedics were unable to resuscitate an elderly woman when they got there.

Although the incident happened on June 20, details are only now emerging after the issue was raised in Stormont by SDLP MLA, Pat Ramsey.

Mr Ramsey said he was contacted by a neighbour of the woman who had tried to resuscitate her whilst the ambulance made its way from County Tyrone.

He said the response time was unacceptable and people had a right to expect a more immediate emergency service.

He told the Sentinel: “I was contacted by a friend of mine who lives next door to the woman who died. He went in when she took ill and had to give resuscitation while the ambulance was travelling from Strabane but it was too late. It was very distressing.”

Mr Ramsey asked the Health Minister Michael McGimpsey to outline the target response times for emergency ambulance calls, in light of the death and whether he planned to investigate the circumstances of the case.

Mr McGimpsey stated: “I am concerned to learn of the incident you describe, a fast response to the most urgent life threatening calls remains the highest priority of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

“NIAS has in place well established arrangements to fully investigate concerns of this nature and in the first instance it is for the ambulance service to take this investigation forward.

“The Member may wish to contact NIAS directly to give fuller details of the incident to which this question refers.”

Mr Ramsey has written to the NIAS about the incident but said he was not happy with the response from the Minister.

“I was upset by the response I received,” said the Waterside-based MLA. “While the Minister admitted it was wrong I thought he would have contacted the Ambulance Service to follow up on the incident.

“If it was your mother or father you would be expecting answers. People are right to expect an immediate response from the ambulance service.”

A spokesperson for the NIAS told the Sentinel: “The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service received a 999 call at 11.48 on Sunday, June 20, 2010 to the Shantallow area of Londonderry following reports of an unresponsive patient.

“In line with despatch protocols, the nearest available A&E resource was sent to the call. As all other vehicles, including the Rapid Response Vehicle, in the city were engaged on other emergency activity at the time, an A&E crew was sent from Strabane, being the closest available.

“Ongoing medical advice was given to the caller pending the arrival of the crew. This vehicle arrived on scene at 12.09 and despite their best efforts the patient was pronounced dead at scene.”