Laois sometimes has just one ambulance on cover at night for the county, according to figures obtained by the Irish Independent.
The figures show that Laois, as well as counties Carlow, Sligo, Meath, Longford, Donegal sometimes has just one ambulance on night duty in the county.
It was also found that Laois often is only covered by just two ambulances.
Just two emergency ambulances are on day shifts in counties Carlow, Leitrim and Longford seven days a week. As well as Laois, Sligo and Monaghan are also regularly covered by just two vehicles, the figures outline.
The alarming figures obtained from the HSE show that more than 20 ambulances cover day shifts in Dublin on a daily basis, with 16 in Cork, around 12 in Donegal, seven in Kerry, five in Wexford and four in Roscommon.
One paramedic told the Irish Independent that ambulances are often forced to travel more than 60km to the scene of an accident, which can put the lives of injured people at risk.
“The sooner someone can get to a centre of care the better. The greater the delay outside the ‘golden hour’ the greater the chances of a poorer outcome,” said the paramedic.
Resources
A spokesperson for the NAS stated that “resources are dispatched to calls across the country from the National Emergency Operations Centre on a nearest available (to the incident) basis and not on a county boundary basis.
“At a local level, the NAS is supported by more than 140 community first responder schemes, responding to particular types of medical emergencies (cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, chest pain, choking and stroke) where it is essential for the patient to receive immediate life-saving care whilst an emergency response vehicle is en route to the patient,” the spokesperson told the Irish Independent.
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